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Data compiled by Career Times Research Team
Rumours of permanent damage to key sectors of Hong Kong's economy may have been premature. According to the region's recruitment experts, there is light at the end of the tunnel
After a weak second quarter, when the number of advertised job vacancies in Hong Kong was hit by the double blow of SARS and a weak local and global economy, the HKSAR's job market market strengthened from July to September. The Career Times market research team's report for the third quarter of 2003 indicates a steady rally, peaking at 2,399 advertised job positions in mid-August before dropping slightly in September.
Recruitment experts said the rise in advertised job positions reflected the increasing demand for hotel, retail, information technology (IT) and telecommunications personnel, as these industries showed signs of recovery during the third quarter of 2003.
"During SARS, people were not sure how long the situation would take, so tended to delay hiring people," says George Leung, HSBC's chief economist, Greater China. "Now SARS has gone, there seems to be a recovery - especially in the retail sector, which is short of staff. Employers are going to market to replenish their original [staff numbers]."
Although Mr Leung does not believe that the current job vacancy situation is "very good", as unemployment is still high, he adds that Hong Kong is seeing some improvement, tied, in particular, to announcements allowing independent travel by mainland Chinese tourists to HKSAR. As a result, "the hotel and retail sector suddenly found that there might be huge demand to develop," he says.
"Of course, the unemployment rate will be dropping, but still staying at a pretty high level - at about eight percent by the end of this year," adds Mr Leung. "There is a chance it will dip further next year, depending how many people actually arrive in Hong Kong."
Advertised executive job vacancies held steady throughout the third quarter, hovering at around 300 vacancies per week. This continues to echo the ongoing shortage of top talent, according to Dr Frankie Lam, managing director, Bó Lè Associates.
In addition, advertised hotel and catering job vacancies have shown a considerable rise, peaking at 179 in the second week of August. Uris Fong, vice-president sales and marketing, Henderson-Miramar Hotel Management Co. Ltd, links this closely to the anticipated arrival of independent Chinese tourists, although preparations for the traditional October high season and a rebound from staff reductions "during SARS" and in June 2003 were also contributory factors.
Although the sector remains relatively soft, the number of advertised telecommunications job vacancies has shown double-digit improvement year-on-year. This is impacted by some front-line improvement, according to Duncan Low, group general manager, Gemini Personnel. "It's improved slightly, in line with the opening-up of markets in China," he says. "We're not saying we're out of the doldrums, but it has bottomed out, provided there's no major threat from SARS."
Within the banking, finance and insurance sector, requirements are for sales and marketing personnel, with some support-side insurance job vacancies being advertised, but back-office activity has been low throughout 2003. "The general feeling is that [employers] are looking for not particularly long-term staff," says Kathy Chan, director, Advance Resources. "Nowadays, working relationships are pretty short-term."
Data compiled by Career Times Research Team
In general, the number of advertised IT job positions has increased, in comparison with the first quarter of 2003, with a rise in vacancies generally being shown week-on-week. "It's quite good at the moment," explains Edwin Tam, director, InfoTech. "The increase is mainly from end-users. Some companies are leaving out the restraints [formerly] being imposed on permanent head-counts."
Helped by "quite good" IT sector conditions and the current rise in stock prices in the United States, Mr Tam notes that the vendor side outlook remains optimistic. "Sooner or later, this may have a positive impact on the IT sector in Hong Kong, [and positions] such as computer vendors or systems integrators."
Again thanks to the strengthening US economy, Hong Kong's manufacturing and trade is fairly healthy, says Bó Lè Associates' Dr Lam, leading to contracts being secured with both US and EU markets by Hong Kong investors and PRC-based multinationals. "They are still in need of designers, product engineers and logistics specialists."
In line with the continuing trimming of the government labour force, hirings for major government departments continue to be negligible in the third quarter, with only one to four advertised senior positions week-on-week in the third quarter according to Career Times research. "All contracts are likely to be one- or two-year," says Victor Lai, consulting manager, executive recruitment, Drake International. "It is not likely that the public sector will be as active as the private sector."
Equally, the number of advertised property job vacancies has shown no significant sign of improvement in the third quarter of 2003. However, Paul Ho, managing director, Manlink Personnel, points to several seasonal projects awarded during this period, including the Deep Bay Link, Shenzhen Western Corridor, the Route 9 Kwai Chung viaduct and the Route 9 Eagle Nest tunnelling project, which should impact future demand for "good construction people". The sensitive Central reclamation project may also affect the construction industry, depending on the impending court verdict.
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Data compiled by Career Times Research Team
Taken from Career Times 2003/10/10
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