HK employee turnover, job vacancy rates hit record highs in Q3

Both the employee turnover and job vacancy rates hit record highs in Hong Kong during the third quarter of this year, said the Hong Kong Institute of Human Resource Management (HKIHRM) Thursday.

According to the Third Quarter 2007 Survey of Manpower Statistics, conducted by the HKIHRM, the overall manpower turnover rate hit a record high at 4.54 percent in the third quarter of 2007. The figure was 0.32 percentage points higher than in the previous quarter, and 1.31 percentage points higher than in the same period in 2006.

The highest turnover was recorded in the retail sector (9.64 percent), followed by the business service/ professional services (7.65 percent) and wholesale, import/ export, trading (7.64 percent) sectors.

The overall average vacancy rate also peaked in the third quarter of 2007 at 3.97 percent. This figure was 0.46 percentage points higher than the figure recorded for the second quarter of 2007 and 0.88 percentage points higher than that recorded for the same period in 2006.

The retail sector recorded the highest vacancy rate (6.13 percent), followed by the engineering (5.61 percent ) and financial services/ banking/ insurance (5.36 percent) sectors.

"While the Institute is pleased to see the continuous improvement in the unemployment situation, companies are now facing tough challenges in recruiting and retaining talent." said Lai Kam-tong, president of the HKIHRM.

According to Lai, both the turnover and vacancy rates have hit record high, in line with the latest continued decline of unemployment rate to 3.6 percent, the lowest level for over the nine and a half years.

The HKIHRM Quarterly Survey of Manpower Statistics, conducted since 2002, regularly tracks manpower movements in Hong Kong's labor market. A total of 112 companies participated in the third quarter 2007 survey, covering over 125,000 employees. Key data included turnover, vacancy and absence rates collected on a quarterly and annual basis.