KUALA LUMPUR: Southeast Asia’s Banking and Financial Services sector is displaying a cautious yet optimistic hiring outlook, exhibiting slight improvement in online hiring in Singapore and Malaysia.
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, which also includes data points from the BFSI sector.
Singapore recorded the highest online hiring activity in the Banking and Financial Services Industry in Southeast Asia, at 11% year-on- year in June. This is up 6% from the 5% recorded between May 2016 and 2017.
The Philippines witnessed a growth of 8% year-on- year, while Malaysia reported a 1% growth, which is a significant 11% improvement from -10% recorded between May 2016 and 2017.
Domestic demand for Finance and Accounts roles remained muted in June, with all three markets reporting a decline in hiring activity between June 2016 and 2017.
Singapore and Malaysia both saw a 2% annual decline in demand for these professionals in June. The Philippines recorded a 1% decline in the online hiring of the Finance and Accounts professionals in the same month.
This is a 6% drop from 5% growth recorded in May 2016 and 2017.
“Despite varying market conditions, this sector is showing some signs of recovery with tech talent calling the shots in the region. Disruption in financial tech will continue to create demand for new roles which did not exist previously, such as UX/UI designers, digital data analysts and positions in data theft & protection,” said Sanjay Modi, Managing Director at Monster.com – APAC and Middle East.
“With companies cutting overall staff costs by leveraging the comparative advantages of different markets, finding top talent in niche roles will continue to remain a challenge, especially as employers are hard-pressed to identify more local talent with less time to fill.
This also calls for employers to invest more in learning and development initiatives that will further enable an innovative and digital mindset among employees.”
Win a prize this Mother's Day by subscribing to our annual plan now! T&C applies.
