Number of job vacancies dips in second quarter but Hong Kong is weathering the economic storm felt in other major economies
A generally cautious mood has put a dampener on Hong Kong's otherwise robust economic fundamentals, leading to a slower growth in the number local jobs in the second half of the year, according to market watchers.
Latest statistics from the South China Morning Post/admanGo survey, which tracks job vacancies advertised in Hong Kong's six major recruitment publications on a monthly basis, show that recruitment grew by 11 per cent for the second quarter of this year, compared with the same period last year.
A total of 79,152 advertisements were posted during the period. However, this is slightly less than the 18 per cent growth experienced in the first quarter of this year. Taken together, in the first half, the number of jobs grew by 15 per cent, compared with the same period last year. This is also less than the 22 per cent growth witnessed in the first half of last year.
'People are still cautiously optimistic,' said Joanne Yim Oi-kwan, chief economist at Hang Seng Bank. She said the decrease in growth reflected growing caution in the market.
Hong Kong's economy was externally dependent, so the number of jobs in the second half would hinge on what happened in the United States and other markets around the world, she said. She expects job growth to slow for the rest of the year. This will mostly likely come from the import and export sectors, which are affected by the credit crisis. The retail and wholesale sectors were still generating new jobs for the time being, but she said that with retail sales growth slowing, there might be a chance of a slowdown in hiring in these sectors.