Introduction
Despite current global economic conditions,
the outlook in Asia remains positive and we
expect to see many businesses across the
region going ahead with aggressive growth
targets and securing key talent to drive
expansion plans in 2012.
As a result, those candidates with in-demand skills and realistic
salary expectations can be confident that this year will provide
them with the opportunity to secure a challenging career move
and a salary increase.
Nigel Heap,
Managing Director, Hays Asia Pacific
January 2012
ASIA'S RESILIENCE
If there's one issue that has the potential to remain
a universal challenge this year, it's the shortage of
particular skills. According to our survey of employers
across Asia, almost all (95 per cent) believe that
skills shortages have the potential to hamper the
eff ective operation of their business or department.
Furthermore, in skill-short areas 66 per cent of
employers said they would consider employing or
sponsoring a qualifi ed overseas candidate.
So despite easing growth across Asia in the second half of
2011 following the fallout of the Eurozone debt crisis, it seems
that skills shortages remain a real threat to us all.
This is likely because Asia's overall economy remains resilient
and will continue to sustain hiring activity across the region.
Indeed, in a global context Asia is a stand out performer.
According to our survey of employers, in the next 12 months
64 per cent of employers expect business activity to increase
and 41 per cent expect their permanent staff levels to increase.
In terms of salaries, on average one in three employers across
the region gave salary increases of between three and six per
cent in 2011. A further 30 per cent gave an increase above six
per cent. The remaining 37 per cent off ered an increase of
less than three percent or no increase at all.
China was the stand out in terms of salary increases in the region, with
51 per cent of employers reporting an increase of between six and ten
per cent and 21 per cent off ering an increase above 10 per cent.
When they next review, 35 per cent of employers across the
region intend to increase salaries between three and six per cent.
A further 32 per cent will increase above six per cent. But 27 per
cent of employers intend to increase salaries less than three per
cent and six per cent intend to off er no increases.
According to our survey, 54 per cent of employers intend to
award a bonus to more than 50 per cent of staff , down 10
per cent year-on-year. Instead, the use of benefi ts is rising.
Benefi ts are now off ered by 81 per cent of employers, up from
78 per cent year-on-year. Health is the number one benefit,
followed by life assurance, pension and car or car allowance.
Singapore and Hong Kong in particular are casting the net
wide when a suitable local applicant cannot be located,
although there has been a strong reduction in expatriate
packages. Those that were on expatriate packages have been
converted to local packages and benefi ts such as housing and
living allowance have been incorporated into the base salary.
In other trends, there has been an increase in requests
for candidates with strong bilingual skills and experience
working overseas, while good candidates are once again
starting to receive multiple off ers, particularly those that can
demonstrate career stability and workplace loyalty.
Japan continues to recover from the March 2011 earthquake
which resulted in a hiring slow down and market challenges,
but as the country recovers we are seeing some strong hiring
for mid to senior candidates.
Overall, we are optimistic about the market in 2012 as the
Asian economies continue to outperform some of their
western counterparts.
