Fewer companies in Hong Kong are looking to hire in the next three months compared to a year ago, although certain sectors are bucking the trend with plans to increase staffing levels over the Lunar New Year holiday.
Employees in the city can also expect a modest pay raise of 2 to 4 per cent as larger firms look to keep budgets under control.
The findings by human resources consulting firm ManpowerGroup are part of a survey carried out four times a year covering companies around the world.
The latest edition, released on Tuesday, covers about 59,000 employers from 43 countries and territories.
Participants were asked how they anticipated total employment to change in the coming quarter.
Out of 728 respondents in Hong Kong, 17 per cent said they would hire more people, 4 per cent said they would cut headcounts, while the remaining 79 per cent were not planning to make any adjustments.
The net employment outlook of 13 per cent was the same as the figure for the fourth quarter of 2016, although year on year it was down by two percentage points. A figure above zero indicates a favourable outlook.
Bright spots included the wholesale and retail sectors which returned a net employment outlook of 12 per cent, three percentage points up on the October-December period and four percentage points higher than a year ago.
Lancy Chui Yuk-shan, senior vice-president for China at ManpowerGroup, said high turnover rates and long working hours had piled pressure on retailers to recruit staff.
“One of the solutions is to hire temporary workers during festive seasons such as the Lunar New Year holiday,” she said.
Meanwhile, employees could see a pay hike of between 2 and 4 per cent next year, although the increment may be lower at larger corporations and even zero for executives and managers.
Global human resources consultants Mercer put average pay raises at 4.2 per cent in an annual survey released on Monday, but Chui believed that figure was overly optimistic.
“Our prediction of 3 per cent this year was already lower than the 3.5 per cent from a year ago,” Chui said. “Many companies have even admitted they would offer less.”
Read the original article on the South China Morning Post.
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