JOB advertisements in Asia's financial centres Singapore and Hong Kong fell in the third quarter as the financial crisis spurred companies to cut costs, recruitment firm Robert Walters said on Thursday.

The number of job advertisements in Singapore fell 10.2 per cent to 192,985 in the July-to-September period compared to the second quarter, Robert Walters said. The number of job advertisements in Hong Kong fell 8.5 per cent to 433,818 over the same period.

The global financial crisis, the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930s, has spread beyond financial markets and into the real economy as weak consumer sentiment drags on company profits.

For more The Straits Times stories, click here.