Online recruitment stagnates in March

The demand for tech professionals was countered by retail and trade hiring demand.

Online hiring demand remained unchanged in March, according to the Monster Employment Index (MEI), as the COVID-19 outbreak and its impact on the economy intensified.

Growth in e-recruitment, which was on a double-digit high for most of 2019, started off on a slow note with a 6% and 7% YoY growth in January and February, respectively. Retail/trade and logistics and hospitality industries were the worst hit, recording declines of -9% and -7% respectively for the month of March.

Meanwhile, with the increasing dependency on technology to stay connected, the IT industry witnessed the highest surge in e-hiring demand for the quarter, with 19%, 16% and 7% growth for January, February and March, respectively.

In addition, Q1 demand for new hires in advertising and marketing continued to grow YoY at 17% and 16% in January and February, respectively, but dropped to 8% in March. Consumer goods, banking, financial services, and insurance also maintained good growth for the quarter, whilst the healthcare industry experienced rising demand with a high point of 10% YoY growth in February.

In specific occupations, software, hardware and telecom professionals led the online hiring demand throughout the quarter, with an impressive 21%, 23%, and 19% YoY growth for January, February, and March, respectively.

On the other hand, hospitality and travel professionals, which started out with an 18% annual growth in demand for January, plummeted to -14% by March when the sector was hit by worldwide travel lockdowns.

“The priority right now is to protect jobs and the small businesses that may not have the resources to stay afloat in these troubled times,” said Krish Seshadri, CEO of Monster.com – APAC and Middle East.