Economists say that factors such as China’s tepid recovery and central banks continuing their interest hikes could lead to dampened economic growth and hence a slowdown in the labour market.
Job vacancies and ratio of job vacancies to unemployed persons still remain high but both have eased, from 126,000 to 99,600 and 2.33 to 2.28 respectively. She added that hiring intentions and employment growth have begun to soften and “may moderate in coming months since growth momentum is likely to slow in the second half of 2023”.
Experts said that the decline in employment in the above sectors are not surprising, as it is a signal that economic conditions are “normalising”. Mr Song said that while there has been a decline in job vacancies, it is only marginal when compared against the number of unemployed persons.