India leads the Asia-Pacific job market

The optimism of Indian employers is reflective of the pace at which business throughout India is growing, says an international survey.

Employers in India, world's second fastest growing economy, are leading the Asia-Pacific job market to meet their ever growing requirement for best possible talent globally in the fast growing services sector, reveals a survey by an international HR consultancy firm.

HT Image

India is leading the employment growth in Asia Pacific followed by Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong, the fourth-quarter hiring outlook survey by US-based consultant Manpower said on Tuesday.

The survey included employers across seven sectors -- finance, real estate, manufacturing, public administration, services, transportation and retail trade. Of the seven sectors, only employers in the manufacturing sector reported a decline in hiring activity.

As per the survey, conducted for the tenth consecutive quarter, employers across the seven industry sectors in India reported positive hiring intentions. The greatest improvement was reported in transportation sector where the outlook improved by 17 per cent. Employers in all the other sectors reported relatively stable hiring plans.

Motivated by a robust GDP growth, companies are taking up development activities in new age sectors such as retail, telecom and information technology and enabled services sectors and require huge human resources to meet their expansion plans.

The optimism of Indian employers is reflective of the pace at which business throughout India is growing, Manpower India Executive Chairman Soumen Basu said.

Of the 27 countries surveyed globally this quarter, employer hiring intentions continue to be strong in India with overall net employment outlook of +47 per cent, the most o

The increased hiring in the services sector is a reflection of its role in India's GDP growth. Also, the capital and financial health of the country today is fueling the demand in the finance, real estate and retail sectors, which assures a plethora of opportunities for job seekers in the next three months, Basu said.

Out of the 4,922 employers surveyed in India, 49 per cent expected an increase in hiring activity in Q4, two per cent anticipated a decrease, while 41 per cent saw no change in hiring plans in the recent future.
Employers in the services sector showed the most aggressive hiring intentions at 54 per cent, while those in manufacturing sector had the weakest plans at 40 per cent.

As per regional trends, employers in southern India have the strongest hiring plans with an employment outlook of 50 per cent. Hiring plans are weakest in the east at 33 per cent. Employers in the north and west also have robust hiring plans this quarter, the survey showed.
In addition to India, the strongest hiring prospects reported this quarter globally were in Japan, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Argentina, Singapore, Costa Rica and Peru.

The survey interviewed nearly 52,000 human resource directors and senior hiring managers from public and private sectors worldwide. In the Asia Pacific region over 16,000 interviews were conducted to measure the anticipated hiring activity between October and December 2007.

Of the six countries surveyed in the Americas, Peruvian employers were the most optimistic about adding to their workforces, while employers in the remaining countries expect continued positive hiring activity.