Singapore

The recruitment market for In-House opportunities remains robust, this is partly down to the volume of MNCs in the city which allows for natural attrition / replacements hires to take place.

GDP growth came in a 2.7% (y.o.y increase) and inflation eased to a 30 month low. Dig deeper and sectors such Manufacturing, Chemicals, Engineering, Construction, Retail, IT, Finance,Insurance and Real Estate all jumped into positive territory growth wise. Adding attrition and growth together, Q1 witnessed 15-20 new jobs released each month.

An influencing factor could be the foot traffic across the city. Singapore witnessed 4.35 million visitors in Q1 2024 which is significant when you compare against the whole of 2022 at 6.35million. With over 7,500 MNCs using Singapore as a regional HQ, you can see why regional headwinds such as China’s economic slump and increasing Middle-Eastern tensions are helping to bolster Singapore’s mission to take top spot for doing business in Asia.

Top 3 sectors for In-House lawyers (based on Job activity through Q1)

• Payments

• e-commerce / Consumer Goods

• Internet / Computer Software

Top 3 skillsets in demand for In-House lawyers

• Cross-border regulation

• Regional and complex software deal experience

• Regional and complex software deal experience

Hong Kong

The city is still in bounce back mode and economic guidelines suggest a rebound is slowlyarriving with GDP predicted to be around 2.5 - 3.5% in 2024 and inflation steady at around 2%. 

The job market, however, continues to be challenging. We witnessed 5-8 new jobs per monththrough Q1 with the distribution spread across conglomerates, crypto and investment focused firms. Another point to note is language requirements with Cantonese a must, and more often than not, Mandarin.

One area that is perhaps overlooked on the stats is talent availability. As MNCs have departed or relocated operations to other parts of Asia, talent has followed suit and if you factor in covidled emigration spikes, new In-House talent on the market is scarce.

So what happens when we see a significant increase in business activity? Where will the talent come from? Law firms are an obvious choice but the majority of teams are without strong pipelines of work. For example, Associates struggling to hit billable targets are sat idle and lagging behind on up-to-date technical expertise. Next in line, returning citizens but memories of protests and covid restrictions remain prevalent.

I would envisage this shortage could be solved via an increase in talent imported from Singapore and China. Next in line would be to drop the reliance on Chinese language skills for mid-senior roles which opens up an existing pool of excellent expat talent already in the city. 

Top 3 sectors for In-House lawyers (based on Job activity through Q1)

• Crypto / Asset Focused Investment Firms

• Hong Kong conglomerates

• Payments

SD Legal is a specialist legal & compliance search firm with a physical presence in Singapore and Hong Kong 

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