The country’s manufacturing sector saw a peak in recruitment in the second quarter of last year. There was a 2.3 per cent increase in hiring, which dropped to 1.3 per cent by the last quarter of 2008.

The number of professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) hired in manufacturing also declined from 2.1 per cent between April to June to just 1.2 per cent from October to December 2008.

Another sector which was also affected by the downtrend in hiring was financial services, which saw hiring drop from 2.8 per cent in the third quarter to 1.9 per cent in the last quarter of 2008.

Joanne Chua at Robert Walters Recruitment Consultancy said: "For the financial services sector, if the organisations are not totally exposed to the US market, they are quite well positioned to capture the growth markets in the Asia Pacific — largely within the emerging markets like ASEAN.

"So there are still pockets of opportunities out there. But largely, it’s an employers market out there right now."

Transport and storage sectors were also hit by the global economic downturn. Recruitment dropped from 2.5 per cent between July and September to 1.7 percent in the fourth quarter.

But not all sectors are facing a downtrend in employment. Sectors like hotels and restaurants are still hiring and have seen an increase in clerical, services and sales workers being hired between October and December last year.

Also holding on are the real estate and the administrative and support services sectors.

Manpower analysts are, however, less optimistic about increments and starting salaries. "It’s fairly flat, I will be honest. We are looking at single digit percentage, below 5 per cent," said Chua.

So their advice to graduates out there looking for jobs — don’t shun any opportunity that comes by, even if it is a contract or project—related job. That is because every experience counts when the economy picks up. — CNA /ls

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