The growth in job vacancies in Hong Kong in the second quarter of 2008 was less than in the previous quarter.

According to the Quarterly Survey of Manpower Statistics conducted by the Hong Kong Institute of Human Resource Management (HKIHRM), the overall average vacancy rate for the second quarter of 2008 was 3.9%, 0.7 percentage points lower than the figure recorded for the first quarter of 2008. Property development / real estate / construction recorded the highest vacancy rate (5.75%), followed by financial services / banking / insurance (5.2%).

In terms of staff grade, the highest vacancy rate was in both clerical / frontline staff (4.32%) and middle management / non-managerial professionals (4.3%).

The survey shows that the percentage of growth in new positions in the second quarter was 0.89%, 0.23 percentage point lower than the previous quarter. The highest net growth in job positions was in business / professional services (3.1%), followed by community / social / personal services (1.45%). In terms of staff grades, the highest growth was in supervisory / officer level (1.01%).

As for the turnover rate, 4.36% was recorded for the second quarter, 0.42 percentage points higher than in the previous quarter. Retail had the highest turnover (8.58%), followed by property development / real estate / construction (6.67%), and business / professional services (6.25%). In terms of staff grade, the highest turnover rate was among clerical / frontline staff (5.35%), followed by middle management / non-managerial professionals (3.65%).

A total of 105 companies participated in this survey, covering more than 123,000 employees in Hong Kong.