Job prospects in Singapore “continue to diminish” despite a forecast of “modest” payroll additions across all industry sectors according to a recent global survey by workforce solutions firm ManpowerGroup.
The company’s Employment Outlook Survey revealed that just 8% of the 632 firms polled in Singapore expect to increase headcount. Some 4% expect a decrease in hiring plans and 60% foresee no change. The city-state’s net employment outlook stands at +4% – the weakest since the recession, according to the survey.
“Employers are remaining cautious despite the positive economic forecasts recently provided by the
Monetary Authority of Singapore, and this abundance of caution is evidently prompting many of the employers we survey to scale back their hiring plans,” said
Linda Teo, country manager of
ManpowerGroup Singapore. “However, employers seem willing to keep current payrolls intact until ongoing trade issues and other geopolitical risks are mitigated.”
The Ministry of Manpower recently said that the labour market outlook remains “uneven” across sectors. Hiring expectations remain cautious in sectors such as Construction and Marine, while sectors such as Finance & Insurance, Information & Communications, Healthcare and certain segments of Manufacturing should continue to support job growth.
“With continued cyclical weakness in some sectors and ongoing business restructuring, redundancies and the unemployment rate may remain elevated,” said the ministry in its labour market report released on Tuesday.
On the global level, employers in 41 of 43 labour markets plan to increase headcount. Hiring confidence is strongest in Japan, Taiwan, Hungary and the US, while employers in Italy, the Czech Republic and Finland report the weakest hiring prospects.
