More than half of HK bosses mull over increasing staff

Which sector's got the highest hiring intention?

Information from the latest Hudson Report on Employment Trends states that net hiring intentions in Hong Kong are at their highest level in three years.

According to a research note from Barclays, for 1H15, 52.1% of employers in Hong Kong intend to increase their permanent staff numbers according to the report.

This is up 5.9ppt from 2H14’s 46.2% and is at its highest point since 3Q11 when net hiring was at 60%.

Among industries, the banking and financial services sector recorded the strongest net hiring intention, at 65.1%.

The momentum in banking and financial services was strongest as well, with the net hiring intention increasing by 21.8ppt from 2H14 levels.

Here's more from Barclays:

According to Hudson’s press release, while banking and financial services are seeing cut-backs in back office support areas that are being offshored to low-costs locations, controlling functions such as risk and compliance are all actively hiring.

Another area of increased hiring is private banking arms.

In the consumer sector, employers are also optimistic, according to the report, with net hiring intentions rising 7.9ppt to 54.7%. In a somewhat counter-intuitive finding, one of the
two key growth areas to note is the luxury goods sector, which is investing significantly in frontline retail staff.

Less surprising is the hiring occurring in consumer health companies. A sector that is bucking the increase hiring trend is manufacturing and industrial, where net hiring intentions dropped 21.3pp to 32.3%.

Hudson attributed the decline to the knock-on effect from the continued relocation of manufacturing roles from China to other parts of Asia.

We believe the Hudson report is generally positive for office landlords. As banking and professional services is the sector seeing the strongest net hiring intention of 65.1% with a
21.8ppt improvement h/h, we think Central CBD office landlords such as Hongkong Land could benefit from this trend as many of their tenants fall into this category.

On the other hand, the improvement in hiring intentions outside the banking and financial services sector, such as the 7.9ppt improvement h/h in the consumer sector, could benefit ‘de-Centralized’ office landlords, such as Hysan and Swire Properties.