Study: Majority of HK employers have difficulties in finding talent in 2023

Talent crunch in Hong Kong continues and 85% of employers in the city have difficulties in finding talent they need in 2023, of which 25% of them said that sales and marketing is one of the in-demand technical skills in Hong Kong,  according to a study by ManpowerGroup.

Conducted in February, ManpowerGroup has launched Global Employment Outlook for Q2 2023 and collected data from 38,846 employers across 41 markets, in which 510 employers are from Hong Kong.

The study found that 77% employers globally report difficulty finding the talent they need in 2023, strengthening +2 percentage points year-over-year and more than double the difficulty in 2010 (31%). While in Hong Kong, 85% of employers find it difficult in finding talent they need in 2023, a 2% rise year-over-year and reaching a 17-year high.

Meanwhile, the top five in-demand technical skills Hong Kong are IT & data (43%), engineering (28%), sales and marketing (25%), ESG risk/advisory/governance (22%) and sustainability/environmental (21%). 

The highest demand in soft skills in Hong Kong are leadership & social influence, followed by creativity & originality, reliability & self-dicipline, initiative taking and collaboration and teamwork.

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In terms of communication services, demand for talent has eclipsed supply where 80% of organisations report difficulty finding the talent they need. Despite the talent shortage, employers globally anticipate a net employment outlook of +81%, strengthening +49% since last quarter and +81% when compared to this time last year.

The study also shows that medium-size companies (88%) are facing largest difficulty in filling roles, followed by large companies (83%), small companies (83%) and micro companies (82%).

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to ManpowerGroup for further information.

Although the majority of employers find difficult to hire talent, they report net positive hiring intentions, ranging from 2% to 41%. Regionally, the brightest hiring intentions for next quarter are in North America (+30%), with the greatest expectations in Panama (+41%), Costa Rica (+38%) and Guatemala (+38%). Organisations in the IT industry report the most optimistic in hiring talent (+34%), followed by communication services (+30%) and financials & real estate (+29%). 

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