Manpower’s latest Employment Outlook Survey, released on 10 March, shows that employers in the Asia Pacific region expect labour market conditions to deteriorate at a surprisingly rapid rate. Of the eight countries and territories surveyed in the Asia Pacific region, India is showing more positive intentions than any other country, but the expected hiring pace is still much weaker than that of prior years. Employers in Singapore, New Zealand and Taiwan expect the deepest cuts to their payrolls compared to three months ago.        

The survey of nearly 72,000 employers worldwide conducted by Manpower Inc., shows that employers in 13 of 33 countries and territories still expect some positive hiring activity in the coming quarter; however, hiring expectations are considerably weaker in all countries and territories surveyed compared to this time last year. In fact, employers in 23 countries and territories are reporting their weakest hiring plans since the surveys were established there by Manpower.

“Hiring forecasts from all of the G7 countries are notably weaker compared to 12 months ago confirming that the global labour market will continue to contract – only outlooks from employers in Canada and Germany have not slipped into negative territory,” says Jeffrey A. Joerres, Chairman and CEO of Manpower Inc.

“Meanwhile, hiring patterns in the U.S. have declined to those seen during the recession of 1982, yet a significant number of employers surveyed anticipate no change in their employment intentions. This tells us that in this difficult economic environment, employers are struggling to manage the tension between generating a profit and maintaining their workforce infrastructure.
    
Manpower reports that the caution that began to set in across Asia Pacific during the first three months of the year is expected to accelerate in the second quarter.

“Despite the fact that this period is typically a peak hiring season in many of the markets we survey, our data shows extremely weak hiring ahead for the region, similar to the pace seen in 2003 during the SARS pandemic,” says Joerres.

“The Manufacturing sector has been particularly hard hit in China in response to weaker global demand for exports.  The picture is similar in Japan, Australia and Singapore where hiring optimism is the weakest since our survey was established.”
Of the 17 countries surveyed in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, only employers in South Africa, Poland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium and Norway are reporting positive, but modest, second-quarter hiring activity. However, in countries where year-over-year comparisons can be made, all expect cutbacks. In comparison to three months ago, only Outlooks from Austria, France and South Africa are relatively stable, while Italian employers report a slightly improved but still negative forecast.

“Companies will continue to come up with creative alternatives to downsizing, such as reduced work weeks, voluntary pay cuts and pay freezes to hold on to the people they have and get through this recession,” says Joerres.

Job prospects throughout the Americas region are decidedly weaker, compared to both the first quarter and one year ago. Hiring is expected to be strongest in Colombia and Peru and weakest in Mexico, where employers are the most pessimistic about adding employees since Manpower began surveying there in 2002.

 March 2009

Hiring prospects slow down globally
Manpower's employment outlook for the first quarter of 2009.

Manpower's Employment Outlook Survey ranked in third place in the Expatica HR 2007/2008 Top 5 Industry Survey Awards. The quarterly survey, which has been running for more than 45 years, was seen as a topic of interest for HR managers, scoring well for methodology and readability.