The rate of increase in salaries offered to newly hired mid-career professionals is slowing overall due to Covid- 19, according to new data from Japanese recruitment firm JAC Recruitment.

Whereas mid-career recruitment market salaries had been increasing at an accelerating rate in many Asian countries up through the year 2019 ever since JAC Recruitment’s initial survey of salary trends in the mid-career recruitment market back in 2013, the survey indicates that the rate of salary increase in the mid-career recruitment market relative to that of the previous year slowed overall in 2020 for the first time since 2013 due to the Covid-19 pandemic .

“Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and other newly industrialising countries of Southeast Asia have encountered marked decreases in their respective rates of salary increase in the mid-career recruitment market,” JAC Recruitment states.

In Malaysia, prevailing rates of overall salary increase with respect to those newly employed by Western business process outsourcing entities and shared services centres had previously seen gains of 10% to 20% per year. However, salaries paid to newly employed professionals by shared services centres decreased in 2020 amid deteriorating financial results not only among BPO enterprises with customers in Europe and the US, but also at head offices in those markets.

Thailand saw a downturn in the rate of salary increase in its mid-career recruitment market. This is largely attributable to certain developments, one of which is slumping exports associated with border closures having affected trading companies and manufacturers in the nation’s mainstay automotive industry. Another factor is deteriorating earnings performance in the nation’s retail, consumer goods, and food services sector partially due to its stay-at-home restrictions. Yet another factor is deteriorating earnings performance in the tourism industry which accounts for some 15% of the nation’s GDP.

The data also found that the pandemic has substantially affected Indonesian employers. It impacted the manufacturing sector, consumer goods sector as well as the travel, hotel, and restaurant industries amid suspensions imposed on tourism from overseas.

Having been reeling from effects of Covid-19 since the initial outbreak of the pandemic, mainland China has also encountered a sharp decrease with respect to the rate of salary increase in the mid-career recruitment market. However, the data highlights that the rates are poised to mount a rapid recovery in 2021.

Meanwhile, salary growth in South Korea has been hampered by an economic slump prevailing since 2019 amid a sharp increase in the nation’s minimum wage, which has been further compounded by a scenario where opposing reaction to the wage hike has been weighing on the prospect of the government increasing worker incomes.

In Singapore, professionals are in tight supply relative to demand despite the Covid-19 pandemic.

The report highlighted that salary levels in Japan have remained largely unchanged for nearly three decades.