In the second quarter of 2011 alone, jobs offered on online recruitment boards and national newspapers in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Malaysia and Singapore, increased by a fifth, according to the quarterly Robert Walters Asia Job Index compiled by global recruiter, Robert Walters. 

The index tracks advertisement volumes for professional positions including jobs in sales, property management, law, IT, journalism, accounting and finance. 

The regions which registered the most growth were Malaysia and Singapore, where jobs soared 27 per cent and 24 per cent respectively, compared with the first quarter of 2011. In both of these regions, growth was driven by international companies setting up operations in order to take advantage of the growth potential, said the report. 

Meanwhile Mainland China and Korea saw jobs advertisement growth of 22 per cent 18 per cent respectively. In Hong Kong recruitment activity was flatter after a strong first quarter, and job adverts grew by 11 per cent. Only in Japan, where the effects of the earthquake were still being felt, was job growth negative. Here job advertisements fell by 7 per cent for the quarter.

“The effects of the Japanese earthquake coupled with the weaker than expected economic figures from the US and Europe may have a negative impact on advertising activity levels in the later part of the year, as companies assess the effects of wage inflation and productivity of existing staff. Job churn is likely to continue however as candidates feel more positive about moving roles, incentivized by attractive financial packages,” said Mark Ellwood, managing director, Robert Walters Asia .

He added that in terms of sector, the biggest growth was registered in business development and property management. “Increased recruitment advertising activities were seen across all sectors particularly within industries such as retail services and property management which directly benefit from rising consumer confidence and spending,” said Ellwood.

The rise in property management roles across all regions, particularly in mainland China where job advertisements in the sector increased by 46 per cent, comes in spite of government action to curb property inflation, said the report. 

The news comes against a backdrop of heavy cuts by financial firms, predominantly in the West. An estimated 60,000 jobs are expected to be shed in the latest round of redundancies from the top 50 financial firms. Banks including ABN Amro, Bank of America, UBS, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs have announced thousands of cuts, but most of these will take place in the developed markets where recovery has been slower than the emerging markets, say headhunters, and mainly in sales and investment banking roles.