E-recruitment sentiments dip

The slowing economy is blamed for the low take up in new hiring.

Slowing economic expansion in the Philippines as cited by the World Bank has a knock-on impact on the labor economy, based on the latest Monster employment index for the third quarter this year.

The slowdown merited a scale back on local output growth this year, measured as the gross domestic product, forecast by the World Bank at only 5.8 percent or lower than government’s target of 6 percent up to 7 percent.

The effect of the unexpected slump can be seen in the labor economy. This includes e-recruitment sentiment, which experienced a decline in demand growth in Q3, with 13 percent, 10 percent and 12 percent year-on-year growth for July, August and September, respectively — lower than growth numbers in the first half of the year.

Despite the overall slowdown, certain sectors did experience increased growth in online hiring demand during Q3. The most notable was the Advertising & Marketing industry, which consistently witnessed strong growth throughout the quarter, charting 26 percent year-on-year in both July and September, and 20 percent in the month of August.

The BPO/ITES sector also experienced an e-recruitment demand in the previous quarter, peaking in August with 21 percent year-on-year growth, followed by 18 percent for both July and September. The BFSI, IT/Telecom and Consumer Goods industries also ranked among top growth sectors for online hiring demand in Q3.

When looking at specific occupations, HR and administration professionals came out on top with an impressive 35 percent year-on-year increase for September — the steepest growth recorded for this job role since December 2018. The year-on-year growth recorded for July and August was 31 percent and 29 percent respectively.

Finance and accounts talent were also in surging demand during the quarter, charting year-on-year growth numbers of 28 percent, 24 percent and 23 percent for the months of July, August and September, respectively. Professionals in marketing and communications and software, hardware, telecom roles also witnessed consistently strong demand during Q3, ranking among the top growing occupations for the period.