Human Resources and Administrative professionals are still needed across Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines, but the rate at which they are being recruited has plummeted year-over-year this November.

This was made apparent in the latest Monster Employment Index (MEI) by Monster.com, which found hiring activity in all three markets for these jobs to have declined year-over-year.

However, comparing October and November’s year-over-year data, both Singapore and Malaysia’s hiring activity has remained stagnant at -6% and -22% respectively. The Philippines reported a whopping dip in e-recruitment at -35% year-over-year. This is a significant fall from the -18% recorded between October 2014 and 2015.

This decline is despite HR & Admin roles being the second highest in-demand jobs in Malaysia, the third most in-demand in Singapore and the fourth in the Philippines. The MEI by Monster.com records industries and occupations that show the highest and lowest growth in recruitment activity in various markets.

HR & Admin jobs:

“As we head towards the year-end, we do expect to see the demand for roles such as this decline somewhat, as hiring activity slows down across the board. In the Philippines, the large drop in demand for HR & Admin roles is in line with the country’s slow economic growth, which was more significant than expected in the third quarter,” said Sanjay Modi, Managing Director of Monster.com (India, Middle East, Southeast Asia, Hong Kong).

“In each market there is a very real need for HR business partners and senior HR managers, but less of an immediate need for lower-level, back office and admin staff, which in most markets makes up the bulk of this job data. As overall hiring activity picks up over Q1 and Q2 2016, we might expect to see the demand for these professionals increase somewhat.”

See below for all trends across Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines for November 2015:

Singapore Highlights

• The Monster Employment Index Singapore declined -8% year-on-year.
• No industry sectors or job roles registered positive year-over-year growth.
• The Healthcare industry registered the least decline in online hiring at -2% year-on-year, while Healthcare jobs saw the highest demand – although at 0%.

Malaysia Highlights

• Online hiring in Malaysia declined by -31% year-on-year.
• The Production/Manufacturing, Automotive and Ancillary sector saw the least decline at -10%, while Oil and Gas registered the biggest drop at -40%
• Demand in Marketing & Communications jobs was highest at 0%.

Philippines’ Highlights

• The Monster Employment Index Philippines registered a -46% year-on-year decline.
• The BFSI industry had the least year-over-year decline at -3%, while the Production/Manufacturing, Automotive and Ancillarysector fared worst at -68%.
• Customer Service jobs experienced the least decline at -9%, while Hospitality & Travel jobs reported the steepest decline at -64%

The Monster Employment Index is a monthly gauge of online job posting activity, based on a real-time review of millions of employer job opportunities culled from a large representative selection of career Web sites and online job listings across Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines. The Index does not reflect the trend of any one advertiser or source, but is an aggregate measure of the change in job listings across the industry.

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