- Peter Bithos, CEO of job portal operator Seek Asia, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” that Asia’s workforce is short of people who have the skills to fill technical roles at companies.
- Despite layoffs at tech companies, “almost every sector in the economy outside of tech” is hiring for tech workers, Bithos explained.
Peter Bithos said tech jobs in Asia are “strong” despite layoffs in the tech sector.
charliepix | stock | Getty Images
Asia may be grappling with a labor shortage after the pandemic, but Peter Bithos, CEO of job portal operator Seek Asia, said it is not the same as North America’s “great resignation”.
Instead, Asia’s workforce lacks people who have the skills to fill technical roles at companies, Bithos told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia.”
“What we are seeing is a major realignment of the kinds of talent needed in the workforce”, he said. According to Bithos, this is reflected in the growth of tech role listings on Seek’s platform, which is up 66% year over year.
Despite layoffs at tech companies, “almost every sector in the economy outside of tech” is hiring for tech workers, Bithos explained. He added that tech jobs remain strong and are “very high in demand” across Asia.
A search on job portals JobDB and JobStreet, operated by Seek Asia, showed 57,902 jobs available under the information technology category in six Asian economies: Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand.
Applicants for those technical roles are 14%, which Bithos said along with layoffs in the tech sector may make people feel “confident” enough to seek employment as the pandemic abates.
Bithos said there are still many jobs available to the laid off workers, although these roles may not be at a “pure tech” company.
LinkedIn said in its 2023 “Jobs on the Rise” list that tech jobs account for nearly half of the fastest-growing jobs in Singapore over the past five years. These include jobs such as cyber security engineer, back-end developer and artificial intelligence engineer.