Southeast Asia’s Banking and Financial Services sector is still displaying a cautious hiring outlook, despite seeing slight improvement in online hiring in Singapore and the Philippines. This is according to the latest Monster Employment Index (MEI) – a monthly gauge of online job hiring activity by Monster,com. The Index tracks industries and occupations with the highest and lowest growth in online recruitment, and also includes data points from the BFSI sector.
This April, the Philippines recorded the highest online hiring activity in the Banking and Financial Services Industry in Southeast Asia, at 12% year-on-year. However, this is a 9% year-on-year slump from the 21% annual growth recorded in March. Singapore witnessed a growth of 4% year-on-year between March and April 2017, reporting 2% year-on-year in April. Malaysia – the only market to report a decline in online hiring – saw a 9% dip between April 2016 and 2017.
Domestic demand for Finance and Accounts roles also remained subdued in April, as none of the markets monitored by the Index registered growth. Malaysia saw the steepest drop in demand for these professionals in April, at -10% year-on-year, while the Philippines saw the least decline at -1% year-on-year. Singapore recorded a 7% decline in the online hiring of the Finance and Accounts professionals. Despite the decline, this is a 4% improvement from -11% year-on-year recorded in March.
“As the banking sector continues to transform into one that becomes more reliant on technology, employers have been setting their sights on talent abroad to cope with demands, amidst the widening industry skill gaps. Employers have also been rolling out strategic cost-cutting plans to cope with the ever-evolving banking landscape. As the big banks continue to eye this region for investment banking roles, we can expect to see some traction in the hiring for private banks for the private equity professionals,” said Sanjay Modi, Managing Director at Monster.com – APAC and Middle East.
The Monster Employment Index is a monthly gauge of online job posting activity, based on a real-time review of millions of employer job opportunities culled from a large representative selection of career websites and online job listings across Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines. The Index does not reflect the trend of any one advertiser or source, but is an aggregate measure of the change in job listings across the industry.
See below for all trends across Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines for April 2017:
Singapore Highlights:
• Monster Employment Index Singapore registers negative growth of one percent on-the-year.
• Among industries, IT, Telecom/ISP and BPO/ITES leads online hiring activity; whereas Government/ PSU/ Defence plummets the most on annual basis.
• Software, Hardware, Telecom professionals witness the highest demand year-on-year.
Malaysia Highlights:
• Monster Employment Index Malaysia declines 11 percent year-on-year.
• Among sectors, IT, Telecom/ISP and BPO/ITES leads online recruitment activity; whereas, Retail registers the most-notable decline, on-the-year.
• Among job roles, Sales & Business Development registered the most-notable annual growth in demand.
Philippines Highlights:
• Year-on-year, Monster Employment Index Philippines witnesses seven percent growth.
• Retail exhibits the most-notable growth among industry sectors; whereas, Engineering, Construction and Real Estate plunges the most, on-the-year.
• Customer Service professionals recorded the most-notable demand from the year-ago level.
Source: Media Release
