Published on Career Center on ClassifiedPost.com

Patchy job market amid trade slowdown

Record-high property prices and stronger market indices appear to suggest Hong Kong's economy is once again on a roll, but figures show some sectors are still not buoyant.

The SCMP/admanGo market report of jobs advertised in local recruitment publications shows a decline of 1.4 per cent from 38,063 openings for the second quarter to 37,548 vacancies in the third quarter. There are broad positives if one considers a year-on-year 32.2 per cent increase from the 28,410 positions advertised in last year's third quarter, but no one needs reminding how low a base 2009 offers as a point of comparison.

Respective figures for the third quarters of 2007 and 2008 were 81,972 and 65,933 and it's notable that traditional hiring patterns see the July-September period surpassing that of the previous three months.

Sector by sector, h