Both job vacancy rate and staff turnover in Hong Kong were high in the first quarter of 2008.

According to the First Quarter 2008 Survey of Manpower Statistics conducted by the Hong Kong Institute of Human Resource Management, the overall average vacancy rate for the first quarter reached a record high of 4.6%. This figure was 0.67 percentage points higher than the figure recorded for the fourth quarter of 2007 and 1.5 percentage points higher than that recorded for the same period in 2007. The telecommunications sector had the highest vacancy rate (7.04%), followed by the engineering (6.78%) and retail (6.67%) sectors. In terms of staff grade, the highest vacancy rate was in clerical/frontline staff (4.62%), followed by middle management / non-managerial professionals (4.58%).

A net growth in new positions of 1.12% was recorded in the first quarter of 2008, and was 032 percentage points higher than the same period in 2007. The highest net growth in job positions was recorded in the community / social / personal services sector (3.9%), followed by the telecommunications (3.73%). Across staff grades, the highest net growth was recorded in top/senior management (1.88%).

The survey has shown that the overall turnover rate for the first quarter was 3.94%, 0.86 percentage points higher than in the previous quarter, and 1.09 percentage points higher than in the same period in 2007. The retail sector had the highest turnover (8.06%), followed by business/professional services (5.79%) and property development / real estate / construction (5.62%). In terms of staff grade, the highest turnover rate was among clerical/frontline staff (4.67%), followed by middle management / non-managerial professionals (3.6%).