Robert Walters, one of the world's leading specialist professional recruitment consultancies, has launched its Asia Job Index for Q3 2012.

The Robert Walters Asia Job Index tracks advertisement volumes for professional positions across the leading job boards and national newspapers in South Korea, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Japan.

South Korea: Reduced job advertising levels across most industries

-- South Korea saw a 12.8% decrease in the number of job advertisements. Advertising was down across every sector, which reflected an overall slowdown in economic activity.
-- There was very limited hiring in financial services, with advertisements in accounting & finance down by 20.1% compared with Q2.
-- In retail, although the number of job advertisements declined by 9.8% in Q3, there has been evidence of hiring for specialist positions that support the sector, including advertising, marketing and consultancy.
-- Engineering (down 23.6%) and operations (a decrease of 11.2%) have both seen falls in job advertising compared with Q2, reflecting the slowdown in the manufacturing industry and the lack of investment in new projects and plants.

Asia Job Index Q3 2012 findings:

-- Although levels of job advertisements declined by 3.8% from Q2 to Q3 year-on-year, job advertisements were up 2.3% across the region.
-- A drop in consumer confidence led to a decline in the number of job roles in the retail sector.
-- In Singapore, the number of job advertisements rose disproportionately to the number of roles thought to be available. This is believed to be due to discounted rates offered by publishers.
-- Healthcare and Medical Services were areas seeing an increase in the number of jobs advertised, due to an increasing tendency for patients to travel to Hong Kong or Singapore for treatment.
-- A number of multinational corporations have been opening offices in the region and staffing them with local talent.
-- Overall, the rate at which economies in the region have been growing has steadily fallen, with the financial services sector showing lower job advertisement volumes across the region.

For more comprehensive details and figures for each specific country, refer to the Asia Job Index attached or download the full report from www.asiajobindex.com .

Methodology

The Robert Walters Asia Job Index tracks the number of job advertisements on a daily basis across the executive appointments sections of key newspapers and leading online job boards in Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan and Hong Kong. For a complete listing of the publications and job boards included in our findings, visit: http://asiajobindex.com/methodology.html .

About Robert Walters - www.robertwalters.com

Since our first office opened in London, England in 1985, Robert Walters has become one of the leading international recruitment consultancies operating across 23 countries in 51 offices worldwide. We use our distinct advantages of size, proven track record and unparalleled global network to provide permanent and contract recruitment solutions across all industry sectors and levels of seniority.

Robert Walters Salary Checker App - http://bit.ly/salarychecker_kr

Employees now have a way to check how much they are really worth with the free Robert Walters Salary Checker iPhone app. Drawing on data from the Robert Walters Global Salary Survey, the Salary Checker App contains a database of salaries and contract rates by role and sector. Using GPS technology, the app automatically recognises the location of the user, who can then simply choose their professional discipline and job title to generate their current market rate.

The Salary Checker App is free to download for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad users from the iTunes app store.