Q3 hiring in Singapore 'stable but weaker than elsewhere in Asia-Pac'
Among 660 employers, 15% say they will add to payroll, 3% will shrink it, 77% will make no change: survey
Ng Ren Jye
Singapore
HIRING prospects in Singapore for Q3 2019 are expected to be stable but bleaker than in other parts of the Asia-Pacific, says the latest ManpowerGroup employment outlook survey.
The island nation's net employment outlook for the quarter is forecast to remain stable at +12 per cent - an improvement of one percentage point from the previous quarter, but unchanged from the year-ago period.
Net employment is calculated by taking the percentage of employers looking to hire more staff and subtracting this from the percentage of employers expecting a decrease.
This means Singapore is one of the weakest in a field of eight Asia-Pacific economies surveyed by the US recruitment firm, along with New Zealand (+12 per cent) and China (+8 per cent).
Employers in all eight Asia-Pacific economies expect to grow payrolls for the three months ending Sept 31, 2019. Japan, at +25 per cent, and Taiwan (+22 per cent) anticipate the strongest hiring activity.
Out of over 660 Singapore employers surveyed, 15 per cent said they intend to hire more staff in the third quarter; three per cent anticipate a decrease and 77 per cent foresee no change to their payrolls.
Employers in all seven industry sectors expect to add to their payroll, with employers in the public administration and education sector reporting the strongest hiring outlook of +22 per cent - a five percentage point jump from the previous quarter.
Positive workforce gains are also anticipated in the services sector (+18 per cent), transportation and utilities sector (+10 per cent) and mining and construction sector (+9 per cent).
Employers have more moderate hiring plans in the manufacturing and wholesale (+8 per cent), retail trade sector (+8 per cent), and the finance, insurance and real estate sector (+7 per cent).
Job gains are forecast for all four organisation size categories. Large companies (those with at least 250 employees) report a booming net employment outlook of +59 per cent; medium-sized companies (50-249 employees) expect a +21 per cent increase.
On the other hand, small firms (10-49 employees) have a +12 per cent outlook; micro firms (under 10 employees) expect a modest +4 per cent outlook.
Linda Teo, country manager of ManpowerGroup Singapore, said: "Driven by digitalisation and tighter restrictions on foreign manpower, Singaporean employers are upskilling their current workforce to address their skills gaps, thus increasing demands for training services."
