Nearly half of firms in Singapore plan to cut hirings, but hardly any lay-offs reported: poll

Singapore

WHILE jobs so far are not a big casualty of the Coronavirus pandemic, with hardly any lay-offs reported, close to half of the employers polled in a survey in the first half of March planned to reduce spending on hirings this year.

Only one per cent of the employers had retrenchments in mind, according to management consulting firm Mercer's Pay and Bonus Pulse Survey done in March 9 to 15 which covered 232 responses from 12 industries in Singapore. There were indications that firms were starting to heed the plea to protect jobs and make the most of the government's multi-billion-dollar support package to cope with the fallout of the Covid-19 outbreak.