Economic recovery causes tough recruitment & higher base salary, says Adecco’s Salary Guide 2023

The Adecco Group Thailand, a world-leading HR solutions agency, has revealed its Salary Guide 2023 which showcases the information of minimum and maximum salaries of over 800 positions in 8 industries. Such data have been gathered from the employments of Thailand’s leading companies through Adecco. It has been discovered that, in 2022-2023, the Thai labor market has started to bounce back and become much more lively compared to the last few years during the Covid-19 pandemic. Such phenomena result from the country’s economy which starts to recover as seen in Thailand’s GDP in the third quarter of 2022 which rose by 4.5% in comparison to that of the same period in 2021. Employments have increased in various industries, e.g., manufacturing, logistics, FMCG trading, and banking & finance (FinTech). 

Minimum salary of new grads has reached 15,000 Baht again 

In 2020-2021, the Covid-19 outbreak triggered uncertainty in the labor market, causing the starting salary of new graduates to drop from 15,000 Baht to 12,000 Baht, and even reached the lowest point at 10,000 Baht. This year, their minimum salary has rebounded to 15,000 Baht once again. The average salary of employees with 0-3 years of experience has also been found to slightly increase to 24,000-38,000 Baht, with the maximum of 80,000 Baht for IT careers such as security analyst and software tester, followed by ERP consultant, frontend developer, programmer, process engineer, nutritionist, and credit analyst. It can be seen that most of these are the positions that require specific and specialized skills, for example, IT, digital, financial, and analytic skills. This demonstrates the importance of hard skills that working people must have and develop until they become specialists with profound knowledge. Nevertheless, in order to earn a high salary, it is indispensable for candidates or workers to be equipped with other skills as well. These include language and communication skills as well as teamwork skill which will help fulfill the candidates’ skillset so that employers are willing to pay a higher salary than normal.

Starting salary soars for employees of almost all levels while IT, logistics and marketing jobs are the hottest ones 

As companies started hiring and recruiting heavily in 2022, the starting salaries of senior and manager positions also rose in the past year: 15,000 Baht to 18,000 Baht for senior positions and 20,000 Baht to 30,000 Baht for managers. The most popular career fields this year remain IT, supply chain management, and sales & marketing since they are the driving force which propels business growth amidst digital transformation, for instance, the development of new technologies to meet people’s needs nowadays, logistics as the heart of e-commerce which is the shopping trend of modern consumers with a tendency to grow continuously, or marketing which must connect online and offline platforms in an outstanding and efficient manner in order to compete with a large number of players in the market. For this reason, those who work in these career fields are in high demand for almost every industry. Employers are happy to offer high salaries to retain competent staff or to attract talented candidates to their companies.  

Talent shortage gives candidates more power to negotiate 

Ms. Tidarat Kanchanawat, CEO of the Adecco Group (Thailand), said that  “If we look at the overall picture of the labor market in the previous year, it can be said that 2022 is the year that many companies started to recover from the Covid-19 situation, especially during Q1 and Q2 when there were a large number of job openings in various industries. Also, job transfers of talents with desirable skillsets could be seen in several career fields, which was in line with the global trend. According to Adecco’s Global Workforce of the Future 2022 report last year, 1 out of 4 employees decided to quit or change their job for higher compensation, better welfare benefits, or work policies which suited their needs better. As the number of talents is limited and insufficient for the market’s need (talent shortage), these skillful workers have more power to choose, resulting in the competition between companies to maintain capable staff and attract new talents into their organizations, also known as a talent war. Such competition is reflected in the average salary rates which are higher than last year. This is not only the adjustment to reflect the inflation rates, but it is also the strategy to retain existing skilled staff and appeal to new talents. The ones with the biggest advantage are well-rounded candidates as they have the power to negotiate both in terms of salary and other benefits. They can choose to work with the company that suits their needs the most.

As for the news about employee layoffs by several companies in the previous year which might cause many to feel concerned, in my point of view, some cases happened because such businesses or industries might really face a downturn, such as publishing or TV broadcasting businesses. The layoffs by most technology companies, on the other hand, were caused by the fact that those companies hired more staff in response to the higher-than-usual demand for products and services during the Covid-19 pandemic. However, when things began to get back to normal, the need for labor in such fields might have declined. In companies’ viewpoint, this is a good opportunity to acquire a talent pool full of capable candidates and to look for the right people to join their workforce. The most important thing for candidates is to continue to develop hard skills and soft skills under the T-shaped skills concept which is not just limited to the ability to work in their particular field, but also includes communication skill, teamwork skill, the will to fight without giving up or resilience, the ability to adapt themselves and solve problems in different situations. These are essential skills for work no matter what career you have”. 
 
Organizations should adjust their work culture to welcome Gen Z to the labor market 

“My advice for companies this year is that HR and organization leaders should gain better understanding of their employees by analyzing data for manpower planning, come up with plans to manage and develop their employees’ skills, and learn about the characteristics of Gen-Z people who are about to step in and become another significant group in their company. It is also important to find a way to adjust corporate culture in preparation for this group, for instance, to get the managers who will work with Gen Z prepared to open up to new ideas, to increase flexibility in their work policies both in terms of place and time, and to create work culture which enables people with differences in terms of age, gender, religion, etc. to work together efficiently. Companies that are able to accomplish these first will be one step ahead of others,” Ms. Tidarat added.

Asian Pacific labor market lacks STEM workers

Mr. Simon Lance - The Adecco Group Senior Vice President & Regional Head of Permanent Recruitment (APAC) also discussed about the overall picture of the regional labor market, saying that “The labor markets throughout Asia Pacific are still facing the lack of talents, especially in the fields of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math), including for senior management positions, while the industries which are growing in this region remain life sciences, healthcare & biotechnology, and renewable energy. In 2023, we should see the growth of tourism, hotel, and hospitality industries as well.

Job transfers across countries in this region tend to increase as the measures to control and prevent Covid-19 are relaxed. This also helps promote corporate image in terms of workplace diversity. Nevertheless, hiring foreigners remains a challenge as it is a costly investment for companies. It is also challenging for workers themselves as they have to get ready to adapt themselves in order to work amidst different cultures.

Still, many companies are starting to compare the pros and cons of offshoring and nearshoring employments for different functions of their organization. Some companies now become interested in shared service centers such as an IT hub or designer hub in one country which will provide its services to other branches of the company in other countries, too. This will allow them to make the most of their existing human resources, and it is another way to cope with worker shortage or high wages due to inflation which are happening in many countries.”