The number of job opportunities in Indonesia rose in Q3 2021 compared to Q2 led by job positions within financial services (up 45%), digital (up 14%) and technology (up 13%), according to research from Michael Page.

Olly Riches, President Director of Michael Page Indonesia & Philippines, said, "As Indonesia continues to enjoy a digital boom, multinational and domestic financial services players are investing heavily into Fintech. This is the key enabler for the Indonesian population to access e-wallets, make online payments and manage all their banking and insurance activities. There is also keen competition between the traditional financial services firms and the new Fintech start ups for Indonesian talent right now which is really driving the healthy hiring activity."

As the population becomes increasingly connected, Indonesians who live in farther out locations now have access to education and healthcare via technology as well. In order to provide these essential services to the large population, Medtech and Edtech have also emerged as one of the key growth areas in order to reach those living outside of the major cities.

Meanwhile, Thailand witnessed a marginal 2% quarterly increase in overall job numbers within Q3 2021 as hiring evened out after the surge in the early parts of 2021.

The number of jobs within the Thai technology sector rose by 11% in Q3 from Q2 2021.

Kristoffer Paludan, Regional Director of Michael Page Thailand, said, “With consistent employment demand, Thai professionals with the right combination of technical and behavioural competencies will continue to be in demand and command a higher ratio of salary. Additionally, competition for talented professionals is intensifying and companies are increasingly adopting a candidate-first mentality and paying more attention to the overall candidate experience, to help improve their brand, their process and their overall ability to attract talent.”

Hiring in the Thai engineering & supply chain landscape saw similar levels of heightened activity at a rate of 9% in Q3 2021 compared to Q2. According to Paludan, this upward trend is driven by the significant uplift in food production and packaging, chemical manufacturing as well as electronics and electricals.

Across India’s formal jobs sector, job opportunities saw a 14% increase in Q3 2021 when compared to Q3 2020. This surge in hiring was led by the engineering and manufacturing as well as the technology sectors.

While engineering and manufacturing have seen a significant rise in employment, technology is a close second with a 58% increase in job opportunities. Non-IT sectors such as legal and human resources also witnessed a substantial increase in job opportunities as employment rose at 35% and 25% respectively in Q3 2021 as compared to Q3 2020.

This buoyancy in hiring reflects the increase in economic activity and mass vaccination drive carried out by the Indian government in the last few months following the ebbing of the second Covid-19 wave.

While India’s recruiting sentiment has improved after the second wave of Covid-19 in April 2021, Q3 2021 saw an overall decline of 21% as compared to Q2 2021.

Michael Page published research yesterday which showed job opportunities were improving across Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines.