HR professionals looking for a new opportunity may have a struggle on their hands after recent data revealed job hunting prospects were sluggish in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines.
According to the Monster Employment Index, which gauges online recruitment activity across the three nations, Malaysia reported a 9% drop in the hiring of HR professionals while Singapore reported a 7% drop.
The Philippines recorded no growth in online hiring of HR professionals, doing marginally better than its 1% contraction in September.
Despite the drop, HR professionals have been urged not to panic over automation and the potential impact it’s having on jobs within the sector.
“They should embrace it to become more efficient and agile,” said Sanjay Modi, managing director of Monster.com for APAC and the Middle East.
“Automation isn’t a new occurrence in the labour market – it’s been a constant change that all industries have been witnessing over the past few years,” he added.
“While it will undoubtedly have an impact on jobs, there will be new roles, too, particularly in HR tech that will be created as a complement to new technology.”
The highlights of the survey are as follows:
Malaysia
- Top growth industries are IT, telecom/ISP and BPO/information technology-enabled services with a 41% growth, followed by oil and gas (28%) and logistics/courier/ transportation (11%).
- Lowest growth industries are retail (-23%), advertising, market research, PR, media and entertainment (-13%) and hospitality (-2%).
- Top growth occupations ate software, hardware and telecom (60%), sales and business development (13%) and purchasing/logistics/ supply chain (12%).
- Lowest growth occupations are customer service (-37%), HR and admin (-9%) and hospitality and travel (-6%).
Singapore
- Top growth industries as banking, financial services and insurance (17%), IT and telecom/ISP and BPO/ ITES (5%) and health care (4%).
- Lowest growth industries are government/ PSU/ defence (-10%), consumer goods, food and packaged food, etc (-7%), and retail trade/logistic (-4%).
- Top growth occupations are health care (9%) and engineering/ production (4%).
- Lowest growth occupations are real estate (-13%), customer service (-12%), and finance and accounts (-8%).
Philippines
- Top growth industries include retail (22%), logistics, courier, etc (18%) and BFSI (11%).
- Lowest growth industries are in education (-5%), engineering construction and real estate (-5%) and health care (-3%).
- Top growth occupations are software, hardware and telecom (7%), sales and business development (5%) and marketing and communications.
- Lowest growth occupations are health care (-4%), engineering/ production, real estate (-4%) and hospitality and travel (-2%).
The index is based on a real-time review of millions career websites and online job listings across Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines.
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