Hiring Market Update, Singapore November 2011

Chris Jay, Managing Director Singapore, talks about Singapore's Hiring Market 2012.

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This year has been relatively mixed for Singapore in terms of business performance and consequently, hiring activity. The start of 2011 saw an appetite to recruit from both financial services and commercial organisations, for a mix of investment and replacement hires. However, the pace of hiring in the finance sector was not as "hot" in H1 11 as in the same period last year, and poorer profit results from some of the major financial services institutions heavily impacted hiring moving into Q2 and Q3 11. Many banks have elected to freeze hiring until the start of next year to see how the eurozone crisis impacts Asia. Turbulence in global financial markets has affected hiring within commerce & industry to a lesser degree, and there has been a continuation of investment hiring within many large blue chip organisations.

Despite overall positive economic indicators across Asia Pacific, Nielsen's global consumer confidence index published in October 2011 showed that Malaysia and Singapore both saw the largest confidence declines in Q3 compared with Q2. The report identifies that Singaporean consumers are more concerned about "global macroeconomic issues; continuing inflationary pressures; and subtle shifts in local politics" than people living in other countries. On a more positive note, Singapore's employment rates are currently amongst the world's highest. A recent poll by office solutions provider Regus also indicated that 68% of companies in Singapore expect to hire over the next two years. This suggests underlying positivity within the jobs market, a sentiment also highlighted in our own research.

We recently surveyed over 1,050 senior level operational and HR managers working across the financial services and commercial sectors in Asia Pacific. As part of our ongoing commitment to keep our clients and candidates up to date with the latest trends in the recruitment sector, we asked them about their hiring plans for 2012 and the challenges they expect to face in the Singaporean market over the coming year.

In this Hiring Market Report, you will find a summary of our findings. The results have been separated into two sections: financial services and commerce & industry. We hope that you will find this report informative and useful and as always, we welcome your feedback.

Chris Jay
Managing Director | Singapore
T: +65 6557 4661
E: cjay@morganmckinley.com.sg