Employers in India, Japan, Hong Kong, Ireland and Belgium report their most optimistic hiring plans to date, shows Manpower's latest Employment Outlook Survey. But the employment outlook has declined in Germany and China.

22 June 2006

AMSTERDAM — Employers in India, Japan, Hong Kong, Ireland and Belgium report their most optimistic hiring plans to date, shows Manpower's latest Employment Outlook Survey. But the employment outlook has declined in Germany and China.  

The strongest third-quarter hiring prospects reported globally were in India, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan and the United States with only German employers reporting a negative hiring outlook for the quarter ahead.  The labour market continues to cool in China with employers there reporting their weakest hiring plans since the survey began there in 2005. 
 
"Overall, the global labour market appears to be in good shape with continued steady hiring expected in the US and throughout the Americas. Europe continues to improve from last year and hiring activity is generally strong across Asia Pacific," said CEO of Manpower Jeffrey Joerres. 

Joerres links the severe talent shortages to the decreased level of hiring activity in China, where employers in every industry sector anticipate hiring fewer people than they did three months ago. The first negative hiring expectations reported in the Chinese finance, insurance and real estate sector are also contributing to the weakest hiring plans in China in more than a year. 

In India, "the ongoing war for talent in India’s BPO industry, along with strong demand in the Mining & Construction sector, continues to fuel employers’ hiring expectations," said Joerres.

Of the 12 countries surveyed in Europe, third-quarter hiring prospects are the strongest in Ireland, Norway, UK, Austria, Spain and Belgium, with Belgian and Irish employers reporting their most optimistic hiring plans to date.

Only Germany reported a negative outlook which Manpower put down to employers' confidence in the German labour market "continuing to see-saw from quarter to quarter." But the long-term trend shows that "hiring expectations are considerably improved from three years ago," said Joerres. 

In the US, where the labour market generally remains stable, hiring in the Construction sector is expected to cool slightly from last quarter and last year, while employers in the finance, insurance and real Estate market are reporting their most optimistic outlook since the second quarter of 2005.

This quarter also marks the first time the survey has been conducted with employers across Costa Rica, which showed the most optimistic of the five countries surveyed in the Americas. 
 
[Copyright Expatica 2006]