Job advertisements on job board Seek New Zealand are 30% lower year-on-year in May while monthly figures showed a 5% fall. Meanwhile, applications per job ad, which are recorded with a one-month lag, remained steady in April after rising for seven consecutive months. By region, Marlborough saw the steepest decline at 46%, followed by Wellington at 42%. On the other hand, the smallest decrease was seen in Otago (-19%). On a monthly basis, Gisborne saw the biggest decline at 14% while the West Coast reported the biggest increase at 39%. Job ads fell in most industries on a monthly basis, but a s ..read more

Australia’s Fair Work Ombudsman’s crackdown on illegal job advertisements has led to employers being hit with more than AUD 89,000 (USD 59,245) in fines, with job websites also called upon to do better. Fair Work Inspectors have issued 151 infringement notices (fines) to employers since March 2023 when the national workplace regulator received the power to issue fines on employers who post job ads offering illegally low rates of pay. In one example, the Ombudsman received an anonymous tip-off from a member of the public, which alleged that ads for full-time/part-time bar staff positions were b ..read more

Real wages in Singapore grew by 0.4% in 2023 when compared to 2022, after accounting for inflation, according to the latest data by the Ministry of Manpower. Nominal total wages (total wage includes components such as the basic wage and annual variable component) including employer CPF (Central Provident Fund) contributions, of full-time residents (citizens and permanent residents) employees who had been with the same employer for at least one year continued to grow. However, the wage growth had slowed from 6.5% in 2022 to 5.2% in 2023, although it remained higher than the range seen in non-re ..read more

The majority of professionals across India plan to invest in upskilling initiatives in fiscal year 2025, reports The Economic Times, citing research from Great Learning. Despite the plans to upskill, the research also showed a decline in job retention confidence among Indian professionals, which has dropped to 62% from 71% the previous year. This decrease is largely attributed to widespread tech disruptions and challenging macroeconomic conditions. The uncertainty is more pronounced among entry-level professionals, with 29% expressing confidence in retaining their jobs in FY25. Despite the str ..read more

Job board Seek announced that the sale of its 98.2% interest in OCC Mexico and 100% interest in Catho Online (Brasil Online) to Red Arbor Holding, S.L. has now been completed.  The deal had first been announced on 5 June. Seek’s Latin American operations — which include OCC in Mexico and Catho (Brasil Online) in Brazil — were sold to Red Arbor Holding for USD 85 million in cash. OCC is a job board in Mexico, while Brasil Online is a job board serving Brazil. The company had a 98.2% interest in OCC and a 100% interest in Brasil Online. Red Arbor, based in Barcelona, Spain, owns and operate ..read more

Taiwan’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate improved to 3.35% in May 2024, down from 3.50% in May 2023, according to data from the Directorate General of Budget Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS). When compared with the previous month, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate also declined by 0.04%. When compared with that of the previous year, the unemployment rate on a non-seasonally adjusted basis declined by 0.12% in May. The unemployment rate declined by 0.02% to 3.34% in May. Meanwhile, the number of unemployed persons was 406,000 in February, an increase of 9,000 (+2.28%) but a decre ..read more

The number of job vacancies in Singapore increased in March 2024 even as the number of unemployed people inched up, reports The Straits Times, citing the Ministry of Manpower. Still, the labour market remains tight as there are more vacancies available than there are job seekers, the Ministry said in its report of finalised labour market data for the first quarter of 2024. Overall, there were 81,900 vacancies recorded in March 2024, up from 79,800 in December 2023. “This reflects the improved economic prospects in 2024,” the Ministry said. Job vacancies in growth sectors, which are associated ..read more

Approximately 60% of Singapore employees use generative AI at work to be more productive, with 42% saying that doing so has saved them at least 10 hours on tasks, reports The Edge Malaysia, citing research from enterprise AI and automation company UiPath. The employees said the time saved on tasks allows them to spend more time on creative tasks (53%) and with their family (49%), as well as end their work day earlier (45%). Respondents mostly used generative AI to draft communications (44%), summarise long-form content (34%) and brainstorm (34%). The study also found that Singaporean workers b ..read more

The average hourly wage in May 2024 for temporary workers across three Japanese major metropolitan areas (Kanto, Tokai and Kansai) stood at JPY 1,576 (USD 9.95), up JPY 18 (USD 0.11) from the previous year and up JPY 3 (USD 0.019) from the previous month, according to data from Dip Corp. (2379:TYO), a staffing firm and job board operator based in Tokyo. The data was based on the job advertisement data for temporary workers posted on Hatarako Net, a job information site for employees, temporary workers, and part-time workers. Meanwhile, the number of job postings for temporary workers and tempo ..read more

Singapore is the most competitive economy out of 67 across the world’s eight major regions, according to the 2024 IMD World Competitiveness Ranking (WCR), which measures economies with population size and GDP. The report pointed out Singapore’s robust performance across the areas of government efficiency (the extent to which government policies are conducive to competitiveness) and business efficiency (how well enterprises are performing in an innovative, profitable, and responsible manner).  The other two areas within which the combined 164 pieces of statistical data and 6,612 survey ans ..read more