Adecco reveals last year base salaries dropped but salary caps hit high in IT/ Digital/ top executive positions.
The Adecco Group Thailand, a recruitment agency and leader in all-in-one HR solutions, has released its Salary Guide 2022 The Adecco Group Thailand, a recruitment agency and leader in all-in-one HR solutions, has released its 2022 Salary Guide which discloses the salary rates of various career fields last year. The data have been gathered from over 3,000 leading companies which are Adecco’s clients. Based on the salary database in 2021, it has been established that, overall, the starting salary rates have dropped from the previous year. Nevertheless, several job positions enjoy higher salary caps, especially senior and top executive positions that require new skills and extensive experience in the fields of technology, digital marketing, and finance. This is because the labor market still lacks talents in these fields as Covid-19 has urged every organization to expand and digitalize their business. Finance is also another main factor as companies need to manage their costs effectively and seek opportunities in trending digital assets.
The Overview of Office Worker's Salary Rate in Thailand 2021
High Competition Among Entry-Level Staff - New Graduates’ Hiring Rate Drops by 24%
Ms. Tidarat Kanchanawat, CEO of The Adecco Group Thailand, has revealed the overall picture of employment and salary rates in the past year: “Due to the impact of Covid-19, the labor market is filled with a huge amount of unemployed people who have been laid off. Many companies have to tighten their belts by delaying new recruitments and adjusting their salary structure. As a result, it has become tougher for new graduates to get a job because, at the same salary rate, a company can also hire a candidate with experience. According to Adecco’s data, it has been discovered that the job positions which were open for new graduates last year dropped by approximately 24% from 2020. At the same time, entry-level staff had to face higher competition and lower starting salaries in some positions because of the labor oversupply which allowed companies to have more choices of candidates with similar basic skills to choose from. Thus, it is indispensable for candidates to always develop their skills even during the period of unemployment”.
Talent Shortage Pushes Salary Caps Up
“On the contrary, it has become more difficult to find highly experienced candidates with the skill sets that meet the market’s demands, e.g., digital skill and first-hand experience in the same industry. For this reason, companies have to increase their salary rates to attract candidates, pushing the salary caps up from the previous year. For example, the monthly income ceiling of an e-commerce manager has risen from 120,000 to 300,000 Baht while a finance controller’s salary cap has augmented from 250,000 to 350,000 Baht. The maximum salary rate of a senior solution architect is now 250,000 instead of 160,000 Baht. As for top executive positions, they also have their salary caps increased from 500,000 to 700,000 Baht”, said Ms. Kanchanawat.
6 Trending Career Fields in 2022 Revealed with IT & Digital at the Top
“IT & Digital” is crowned the hottest career field in 2021 and has the tendency to grow continuously. The data from our Salary Guide shows that, in 2021, the number of open job positions in this field rose by 38% from 2020 and by 15% from 2019. The careers with high demand were programmer, data analyst, project manager, as well as positions in e-commerce, digital marketing and CRM/customer insights.
Other trending career fields include finance and accounting which has become popular again due to the growth of Fintech business, digital assets, as well as merger and acquisition, causing the hiring demand in this field to surge from 2020. As for the field of sales, even if it has grown just a little from the previous year, the overall number of employments still among the top list. The growth is especially outstanding in the B2B category since companies want to expand their sales channels between businesses. The logistics field is also growing thanks to e-commerce businesses, while the field of engineering sees high demand for staff in the areas of automatic systems and development of stages in the production line.”
Digital-Data Skill Contributes to High Salary
“According to Adecco’s analysis of employment information from last year, we have found that the candidates who get high salary in each field are usually equipped with T-shape skills; having deep knowledge and skills in a particular area of specialization, along with general knowledge and soft skills to collaborate with cross-functional teams.
Also vital is the digital skill since most leading companies have already adapted to working on a digital platform, plus the data usage and analytics skill which can be further developed to help improve work efficiency in almost every career field. Last but not least, direct business experience in the same industry, especially in the growing industries such as Fintech, e-commerce, logistics, technology, medical & wellness, EV Technology, OTT, and online content service platform will give candidates an extra score in their job application. For executives and senior management, the candidates with previous experience in digital transformation, or establishing a new business or innovations will be particularly interesting for many companies that aim to expand to new markets to gain technological advantages and seek opportunities in digital assets nowadays,” said Adecco’s CEO.
