Employers across eight Asia Pacific countries and territories will continue to anticipate an increase in payrolls during Q3 2019.

According to the Manpower Group Employment Outlook Survey Japan (+25 percent) and Taiwan (+22 percent) anticipate the strongest hiring activity during the third quarter of 2019, while the weakest hiring outlooks are reported in China (+8 percent), New Zealand (+12 percent) and Singapore (+12 percent).

The survey polled almost 15,000 employers across eight countries and territories in the Asia Pacific region (Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, and Taiwan).

In comparison with the prior quarter, hiring intentions strengthen in five areas (Australia, China, New Zealand, Singapore, and Taiwan) but weaken in two (Hong Kong and Japan). In India, hiring intentions remained unchanged from Q2 2019.

However, a year-on-year comparison revealed a decline in hiring prospects in five countries (China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Taiwan), while a stronger outlook was only seen in two (Australia and New Zealand). In Singapore, hiring intentions remained unchanged year-on-year.

In Singapore, employers in the  Public Administration & Education sector anticipate the busiest labor market in the coming quarter.

Diving deep in on the Singapore market, 15 percent of over 660 Singaporean employers surveyed intend to increase their staffing levels in Q3 2019. The bulk of employers (77 percent) forecast no change, while 3 percent anticipate a decrease in headcount.

The resulting Net Employment Outlook for the upcoming quarter is forecast to remain relatively stable at +12 percent, improving by one percentage point from the previous quarter, but remains unchanged in comparison to the same period last year.