In a largely candidate-driven employment market, there were 11% more jobs advertised across Asia during the second quarter of 2015, compared with the same period last year, according to the latest Robert Walters Asia Job Index.

As more multinationals establish themselves in Asia’s key markets, recruitment advertising levels increased for core operating functions; such as IT, accounting & finance, and HR.

The key emphasis across most industries was on streamlining their recruitment processes to secure the best professionals in the market, as well as strengthening retention strategies to prevent losing top talent to competitors.

Broken down by country, the change in the number of jobs advertised in the second quarter of 2015 compared with the same quarter last year was as follows:

Arthur Wang, Managing Director of Robert Walters China, commented: “As China continues to focus on building a service-led economy, the market is developing at a more cautious and stable pace. This is reflected by the modest annual increase in job advertising volumes in Q2. Heavy industries, such as construction and property, might see a further slowdown as the government seeks to fully utilise vacant buildings.”

“However, the food and beverage, healthcare and medical services, as well as environmental sectors will potentially see further growth due to a strong demand from the country’s rising middle class and an ageing population. The digital technology industry in particular will also see more active hiring, due to the government’s ‘Internet Plus’ strategy to drive economic growth by integrating internet technologies with manufacturing and business. Hence IT and bilingual professionals with regional experience will be highly sought-after as more local companies expand overseas and multinational companies set up regional offices in China,” he added.

Matthew Bennett, Managing Director of Greater China, added: “We saw a steady increase in the number of job advertisements in Hong Kong this quarter, which can be largely attributed to the city’s diversified economy. The slowdown in luxury retail and export trading led to a drop in hiring, particularly in sectors such as product and logistics operations as well as merchandising and purchasing. However the overall recruitment market outlook remained positive, with active hiring seen in the accounting and finance, sales and IT sectors. Hong Kong remains the preferred gateway to China for many businesses. China’s economic growth, although in relative terms slower than previous years, will continue to benefit the city. We expect the optimistic market sentiment to continue through to the second half of the year.”

David Swan, Managing Director of Japan & Kora, stated: “Japan saw strong growth in the number of job advertisements in Q2, as companies regained their confidence following last year’s sales tax hike. The weak Yen remained a key driver of active hiring within the export-driven manufacturing sector, especially for automotive companies and related industries; such as spare part suppliers, as well as industrial machinery and electric device manufacturers.”

“In particular, engineers were in high demand due in part to the creation of technical centres in Japan. New market entrants as well as companies expanding their operations in the country also added new headcount in the IT, HR as well as finance and accounting functions. With Japan’s job vacancies reaching the highest levels for the first time in 23 years in May, finding talent has become an increasing challenge for companies. As such, we saw a corresponding rise in demand for HR specialists in talent management and acquisition,” Mr Swan concluded.

Sally Raj, Managing Director of Malaysia, commented: “Employment in Malaysia saw a better Q2 after market apprehension around the GST (Goods & Services Tax) implementation in April cooled off. Generally, positions which were put on hold in Q1 also saw fruition this quarter due to the lesser economic tensions. On the upside, the FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) and consumer industries remained fairly resilient to the GST implementation as Malaysians accustomed themselves to the price hikes rather quickly.”

She continued: “We also saw increased recruitment activity within the shared services space among accounting and finance professionals, as many of them had clocked in two years’ work experience and felt it was time to explore other job opportunities. The Malaysian market however faced more challenges: the largest two being the fall in crude oil prices which had a direct impact on the country’s export economy as well as the weakened Ringgit. These affected investor confidence, and hence a majority of hires were replacement roles or a result of expansion within existing companies as opposed to demand from new entrants.”

Toby Fowlston, Managing Director for Southeast Asia, said: “The annual dip in job advertising this quarter [in Singapore] did not come as a surprise. What we have seen is a softening in the investment banking market, which has resulted in some banks downsizing and off-shoring to cheaper locations. However, the positive atmosphere in other industries, such as marketing and IT, should not be overlooked. Due to the surge in e-commerce and mobile applications, candidates with the relevant skill sets are seeing multiple job opportunities. Hence, senior decision makers need to be more involved in the recruitment process to ensure they make swift assessments and decisions to secure the best professionals. Singapore remains the gateway to businesses in Southeast Asia due to its sound infrastructure and will continue to attract multinationals in the commerce industry.”

Duncan Harrison, Country Manager for South Korea, commented: “South Korea saw strong levels of recruitment activity in Q2, which was evidenced by a 17% annual growth in the number of job advertisements. Foreign companies continued to enter the South Korean market in the wake of newly signed free trade agreements.”

“Accounting and finance professionals as well as HR specialists have been in particularly high demand. However, due to the outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), some sectors such as retail and hospitality suffered a temporary slowdown in recruitment levels during June, with a number of companies putting hiring on hold. For the next quarter however, we expect recruitment activity to remain buoyant amongst international companies operating in Seoul,” Mr Harrison concluded.