Enterprises across Asia, except for those on the mainland, are looking to decrease hiring of executive staff due to negative sentiment clouding the global financial markets, a survey conducted by headhunter Hudson revealed.

Four Asian regions were studied in the survey. They are Hong Kong, the mainland, Japan and Singapore.

Among these regions, Hong Kong has the lowest hiring expectation, with only 42 percent of 746 companies expecting to increase hiring in the third quarter, compared to 57 percent in the last quarter. The figure is the lowest in the same quarter since 2005.

Japan and Singapore also recorded a drop in hiring expectations for the third quarter.

In Japan, 46 percent of 457 companies expect to hire executives. Only 43 percent of 768 companies in Singapore have such expectation.

However, the story is completely different on the mainland, thanks to a strong consumer market.

Fifty-five percent of 708 companies on the mainland are planning to hire staff, up from 52 percent in the last quarter.

In Hong Kong, the information technology sector suffered the biggest drop in hiring expectation from 73 percent to 59 percent recorded in the same period last year, followed by a 14 percent drop recorded for the manufacturing and legal sector, and a 12 percent drop in the banking and finance sector.

Meanwhile, some 13 percent of Hong Kong companies, the highest among the four regions, have cut down on salary offers for new managerial hires.

Respondents in the banking and financial services have reduced salary offers by more than 11 percent after the impact of the global credit crunch and hiring freeze by international banks.

"Given that the strength of Hong Kong lies in the banking and financial market and the manufacturing sector, the city's economy is closely linked to the global economy," explained the company's chief executive officer in Asia Mike Game. "Hong Kong is thus slightly more affected than the other markets."

Only 8 percent of companies on the mainland have lowered salary offers for new managerial hires, indicating a strong demand for talents, the survey said.

Meantime, more than half of the Hong Kong companies, particularly those in the information technology and legal sector, are planning to recruit staff from other countries.

More than half of these companies indicated they will look to Singapore and Australia for staff recruitment.

The survey also revealed that 29 percent of the Hong Kong companies choose to offer performance-based bonuses to retain staff.

(HK Edition 07/25/2008 page1)