The white-collar recruitment market in several Asia-Pacific countries has been mounting a recovery in the third quarter of 2021 despite the pandemic continuing to weigh in on certain markets, according to the latest figures from JAC Recruitment.

The research looked at 11 recruitment markets and reported year-on-year growth in job listings in eight of the markets during the third quarter of 2021 when compared to 2020. India saw the biggest increase. The research noted that the Covid-19 pandemic substantially weighed on India’s recruitment market during the first half of the year, but the number of job openings has since been increasing amid a scenario where employers have been resuming recruitment since July.

In Singapore, the number of job vacancies in Singapore has been rising steadily and accordingly increased in the third quarter by 56% relative to the third quarter of the previous year and by 12% relative to the previous quarter. By industry, there has been an increase in the number of positions available particularly in finance, logistics and from companies involved with food products, in addition to information technology where demand remains high.

Meanwhile, companies in Malaysia have been gradually regaining their willingness to hire new recruits as authorities successively ease controls. Foreign multinationals in particular have been taking a positive stance toward hiring amid a scenario where the number of job vacancies ordered to JAC by such firms has increased by 6% compared to the previous quarter, by 184% compared to the third quarter of 2020, and by 103% compared to the third quarter of 2019 prior to the onset of COVID-19. Overall job listings increased by 45% over the year.

In Thailand, from the middle of July to early August, recruitment momentum encountered a lull particularly in Thailand’s manufacturing sector amid a scenario where local company presidents and personnel departments were busy implementing measures taken to prevent transmission of Covid-19 primarily in factories and construction sites. This situation along with recovery of the global economy beginning in mid-August has since prompted a surge in the number of job vacancies posted by export-oriented companies in the manufacturing sector, particularly those in the automotive industry. Job listings were down 3% over the year.

The number of job vacancies in Indonesia increased over the year by 7% but job vacancies decreased to 83% that of the previous quarter. The decrease is largely attributable to the Covid-19 pandemic and stands in stark contrast to significant increases in job vacancies over the months of June to August most years.

In the third quarter, the number of job vacancies in Vietnam decreased by 14% relative to the third quarter of the previous year and 30% relative to the previous quarter due to Covid-19. On the other hand, there has been robust demand for IT industry professionals given that employers have been aggressively investing in operations involving technology platforms amid spread of the pandemic.

In China, demand for candidates to fill vacancies has also been increasing against a backdrop of remobilising human resources, which is in addition to recruitment undertaken for the sake of increasing headcounts due to recovery and growth of earnings results and recruitment undertaken to fill new positions. Job vacancies were up 19% over the year.

JAC noted that it appears that Hong Kong’s economy is continuing to mount a recovery amid a scenario where cases of Covid-19 have subsided within the special administrative region due to its successful implementation of stringent border measures. The number of job vacancies has consequently remained firm (up 7% over the year), resulting in increasing appetite for recruitment even among Japanese multinationals in Hong Kong.

In South Korea, in the third quarter of 2021, there were 12% fewer job vacancies than in the second quarter but 47% more than in the third quarter of the previous year. The prevailing scenario of fewer job vacancies on a quarterly basis but more on a year-on-year basis is attributable to a situation where the semiconductor realm achieved particularly strong performance with Japanese suppliers having benefited from an increase in South Korean exports of semiconductors, petrochemicals, wireless devices and other such products as Covid-19 continued to spread.

In India, many corporate recruitment drives have been put on hold amid a situation where India’s economic activity seized up yet again due to the nation’s second wave of Covid-19 combined with a scenario where some 80% of its Japanese residents who work in India temporarily returned to their home country amid collapse of India’s medical system. Job vacancies were up 67% over the year and 114% over the previous quarter.

Meanwhile, Japan recorded a year-on-year decrease of 3% and a quarterly decrease of 13%. JAC noted that these figures in Japan reflect job vacancies relevant to overseas operations of Japanese companies.