Executive hiring in Asia improves sharply: Hudson Asia

Job prospects for executives at multinationals in Greater China and Singapore have improved sharply in the past three months amid growing optimism that Asia's recovery from the global recession will be sustainable, a quarterly survey showed on Thursday.
                                           
"Asia is the first region to emerge from the global recession, causing employers to revise their hiring expectations sharply upwards," said Mike Game, chief executive of executive recruiters Hudson Asia.
                                           
In China, hiring prospects picked up for the first time in more than a year. The proportion of employers in China, Hong Kong and Singapore who plan to cut headcounts within three months is less than half that in a similar survey taken in May. The latest survey was taken in August.
                                           
Hiring expectations have increased most in Hong Kong, where 35% of companies say they expect to recruit staff within three months, up from 22% in May. In media, public relations and advertising, 69% of companies said they would be hiring, compared with 28% in the previous survey.
                                           
In China, 39% of employers said they planned to add staff, up from 27% in the May survey, with companies in banking and finance most bullish about hiring.
                                           
Hong Kong and Singapore pulled out of recession in the second quarter while China on Thursday announced an 8.9% surge in third-quarter GDP, putting it easily within reach of its 8% growth target for this year, economists say.