JOB advertisements in the papers may indicate future hiring trends. And according to the newly launched Robert Walters Asia Job Index, the total number of job advertisements posted in Singapore in the second quarter this year is 9 per cent lower than in the first quarter.

The number of job ads went down from 236,423 to 214,999.

This is due to a more cautious approach to hiring by the major banks here, recruitment agency Robert Walters said in a statement.

In addition, financial services firms tend to advertise for positions more heavily in the first quarter of the year, following the payment of bonuses.

Despite this, corporate and SME banking is relatively active from a recruitment perspective as they have much less exposure to sub-prime lending.

The Robert Walters Asia Jobs Index, which covers jobs in both Hong Kong and Singapore, tracks advertisements by numbers in the executive appointments sections of the South China Morning Post and The Straits Times.

It also tracks ads in the online market, focusing on the number of online ads across a selection of leading job boards in the professional recruitment space. Job advertisement numbers were counted as at the last working day of each month, Robert Walters said.

Robert Walters has offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, China, Japan, Malaysia and Thailand.

In Hong Kong, total job advertisements posted increased instead - it was 3 per cent higher in the second quarter of this year compared to the first quarter. The number of job ads in the areas tracked went up from 460,344 to 474,308.

This is because Hong Kong is close to China.

The Chinese economy is forecasted to continue growing at over 10 per cent this year, Robert Walters said.

Accountants are also in huge demand in China as the pace of Chinese companies listing overseas and foreign companies planning to list in China continues unabated. The marketing opportunity created for major international brands by the Beijing Olympics is also having a positive effect.

On the Singapore result, Mr Mark Ellwood, managing director of Robert Walters Singapore commented: 'With the credit turmoil in the US, the financial services market has become more cautious in 2008 than it was in 2007. We would expect to see this continue throughout the year.'

The Index will be published every quarter.

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