Talent trends for Hong Kong and Singapore

Following the de-escalation of the US-China trade war, an economic rebound is in the works. With Singapore narrowly avoiding a technical recession in the previous quarter at a growth of just 0.1 percent, leading specialist recruiting firm for banking and financial services Selby Jennings expect a modest growth momentum along with an anticipation of Singapore’s government expanding fiscal support in the upcoming Budget 2020. While Hong Kong’s economy has been tested by more than six months of domestic turmoil, there will likely be a mild recovery largely driven by the resilience of its banking and financial sector.

“Employment prospects will largely follow the pace of economic recovery and may differ in mileage for specific industries.  With this, a steady demand for highly skilled talent, particularly within the technical and professional sectors will continue,” says a statement from the company. 

With an improvement in the global outlook, hiring and wage growth will strengthen across Asia with the region likely to experience the largest salary forecasted increase of 3.2 percent in 2020 based on a study by ECA International. Singapore is projected to have an average real salary increase of 3%-7% for those staying in the current firm and Hong Kong at 5%. For those who move to another company in Singapore, at mid manager level, it gets a 10%-12% increment, while the senior levels will get a 7%-10% increment.

In Singapore, due to the rise on FinTech side, more and more companies moving their data to the cloud system. It is causing a rise in Technology roles across Data, Cyber, Cyber Security and Cloud-based roles, and also increase in Governance roles to ensure that firms are frugal and not operating in an unsustainable way.  

Singapore will continue to be an attractive destination for talent but the gap in skillsets needs to be plugged with more investment in training and development. For Hong Kong, the labor market is expected to remain conservative with hiring in 2020, and this year may see a move for many Hong Kong businesses towards more flexible recruitment models.

While 2020 will see an increase in hiring space, hiring managers are likely to adopt a conservative yet adaptable approach to better manage costs while preparing for the likelihood of changing economic headwinds.