'It has been common for employers to freeze their headcount or stop hiring in the middle of the recruitment process in the past three weeks,' Ms Lee said. 'Affected by external economic factors, everyone is more negative and reserved now.'

Many companies that needed extra manpower chose project-based staff, mainly with six-month contracts, she said.

Employees were also being more cautious, with many inquiring about sharpening their competitive edge to avoid being laid off.

Ms Lee said last month's job vacancies plunged 20 to 30 per cent compared with the same period last year. She predicted that recruitment in the last quarter would record a year-on-year decrease of 50 to 60 per cent.

'But the Hong Kong market is not that bad,' she said. 'We do not yet anticipate layoffs and salary reductions, although companies are doing their budget for next year, which is earlier than usual.'

Lai Kam-tong, past president of the Hong Kong Institute of Human Resource Management, said the usually quiet job market in the fourth quarter was even less active this year. As companies became more cautious, the job market would definitely be affected, he said.

In the financial sector, there had been job cuts but the impact so far had not been very significant, Mr Lai said. However, if people could not maintain their salaries and curtail their spending, the retail sector would also suffer. He said a clearer picture would emerge once companies knew their full-year results.

The job market was shifting from one led by job-seekers to an employer-driven one.

'Over the past year or two ... the buoyant economy has allowed job seekers to change jobs easily and get significant increases in remuneration packages as part of the move,' a recruiter said. 'Now we are seeing a slowdown in hiring.'

One bank employee said she started looking for jobs a month ago because she was afraid her company would cut staff soon.

'However, the job market is quiet, even though I am not just focusing on finance-related jobs.'