The hiring intention of the majority of companies in Hong Kong remains positive for the second half of 2016 despite economic uncertainties. The Hong Kong Institute of Human Resource Management (HKIHRM) revealed the findings of The Half Yearly Survey on Manpower Statistics in 2016.

An overall average staff turnover rate for the first half of 2016 was 10.2%, with a fall of 0.2 percentage point from 10.4% in the second half of 2015 while an average job vacancy rate of 5.2% was recorded for the first half of 2016, a drop of 1.3 percentage points from the second half of 2015.

Since 2002, the HKIHRM Survey on Manpower Statistics has been collecting data to track manpower movement in Hong Kong’s labour market. A total of 110 companies participated in the survey conducted in July 2016, covering 134,951 full-time employees.

Key findings from the survey are as follows:

Staff turnover rate in H1 2016

• The top three sectors with the highest staff turnover rate are Business services/professional services (20.6%), Retail (19.1%) and Construction/Property development/Real estate (17.8%).
• The top three sectors with the lowest staff turnover rate are Community/Social/Personal Services (6%), Electricity/Gas/Petrol (2.5%) and Transport/Service allied to transport (storage) (2.3%)
• In terms of employee level, clerical/frontline staff recorded the highest turnover rate at 13.1% while the lowest turnover rate was recorded for top/senior management at 3.8%.

Job vacancy rate in H1 2016

• The top three sectors with the highest job vacancy rate are community, social and personal services at 10.2%, retail (10.1%) and construction/real estate at 7.8%.
• The top three sectors with the lowest job vacancy rate are electricity/gas/petrol at 2.7%, telecommunication (2.6%) and transport services allied to transport (storage) at 1%.
• In terms of employee level, clerical/frontline staff recorded the highest job vacancy rate at 6.1% while top/senior management registered the lowest job vacancy rate at 1.5%.

See: Insurance Companies in Hong Kong Increase Hiring of Sales Professionals

60% of the companies indicated to maintain hiring in the second half of 2016 at a level similar to that in the first half of 2016, with a higher percentage recorded in sectors including community/social/personal services; construction/property development/real estate; and transport/services allied to transport (storage).

By business sector, telecommunication; business services/professional services; and electricity/gas/petrol were the top three sectors with the strongest intention to increase hiring in the second half year of 2016, while wholesale, import/export, trading, distribution; retail; and financial services/banking/insurance were the top three sectors with the strongest intention to freeze hiring in the second half of 2016.

Mr David Li, President of the HKIHRM, says, “Hong Kong’s economy has shown a slow growth rate since the beginning of 2016. Individual industries, such as banking, retail, import/export, trading, and travel-related industries have begun to adjust headcount to ride through the economic slowdown. Although there have been no mass layoffs, employers remain cautious about hiring, and tend to resort to natural attrition. The survey results indicated that the vacancy rate and turnover rate in the second half of 2016 dropped from the first half of 2015, reflecting a reduction in job vacancies and a downward trend for the local economy. Local employees had a lower inclination for job change.”

As for the hiring tendency, the number of employers planning to increase hiring in the second half of 2016 reduced compared with the first half of 2016 whereas there was a slight increase in the number of employers who would reduce hiring.

“Though Hong Kong’s overall unemployment rate for the first nine months of 2016 stayed at a low level of 3.4%, economic uncertainties such as China’s slowing economy, local and overseas consumer confidence, trade performance, potential US interest rate hike will likely affect Hong Kong’s economic growth in 2016, companies’ investment confidence, and the employment outlook in the first half of 2017,” added Mr David Li.

Also read: Minimum Allowable Wage for Foreign Domestic Helpers in Hong Kong Increased to $4,310 per month