Randstad Singapore Country Director, Jaya Dass, commented on the MOM Labour Market Advance Release 2015, released today.
Despite the slowed employment growth due to the global economic outlook, we remain optimistic as the Ministry of Manpower Labour Market Advance Release statistics do not point to any clear signs of recession. A primary indicator of this is that unemployment has continued to remain low and stable."
In addition, median income rose sharply for Singaporeans in 2015, by 7% in real terms, showcasing employer confidence in the market as well as a growing understanding around the importance of offering higher salaries as part of their talent retention strategy."
employees confidence in job market
Our Randstad Workmonitor Year-in-Review for 2015 found that despite the slower economic and employment growth, Singapore employees remained confident with 67 per cent believing they could secure a job at a different employer within six months."
Total employment growth, whilst at its lowest since 2003, is no longer fluctuating strongly. With Q4 2015 numbers higher that of Q3, we expect to see that growth will now stabilise and continued at a moderate pace in 2016, barring unexpected issues or crises."
The report highlighted that flat local employment growth was contributed to the exit of casual workers in retail trade and slowdown in sectors including manufacturing and real estate. This exit of workers was offset by growth in sectors such as the professional, financial and insurance services."
We do not expect local employment to stay flat for an extended period of time as local employees upskill to fill the current skills gap, and fresh graduates with sought-after specialist skills enter the workforce. Our recent 2016 Market Outlooks highlighted that IT talent such as cloud specialists, cybersecurity experts, as well as engineers, developers and designers with solid mobile experience, are currently lacking in the market."
Foreign worker employment will continue to grow, but only in specific industries and functions where skill gaps still remain. The Singapore government will continue to focus on maintaining a strong Singaporean core in the workforce with initiatives such as the Fair Consideration Framework."
Redundancies continue to rise, largely driven by layoffs in manufacturing and services. However we expect companies which are forced to downsize to look at restructuring and realigning their businesses to adapt to current and future challenges. Revamped businesses will be a natural source for new jobs, and layoff numbers will slowly decline in the coming years,” said Ms Dass.
about Randstad
Randstad is one of the world’s largest recruitment and HR services providers, with Asia-Pacific operations in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong SAR, China, Australia and New Zealand. Randstad Singapore specialises in permanent and contract recruitment, placing high calibre mid to senior level professionals in companies across key industry sectors. Since 1993, Randstad Singapore has been shaping the world of work, and continues to help organisations recruit the best talent in accounting & finance, banking & financial services, corporate & secretarial support, engineering, human resources, IT, life science and sales & marketing.
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Rena Tan |