Among
the locals retrenched, the hardest hit were still the low
skilled production, cleaning & related workers forming
46% of workers retrenched in the third quarter this year,
although this has come down from 57% in 1997 prior to the
Asian crisis. Next were the professionals, managers,
executives & technicians with 37%, up from 23% in
1997. This reflects the increasing vulnerability of
mid-career and mature managers and executives to losing
their jobs. The remaining 17% of locals retrenched in the
quarter were from clerical, sales & service jobs.
The
worsening economy dragged down the number of job vacancies
by more than half to 14,123 in September 2001 from 32,385
registered a year ago. Similarly, the job vacancy rate
(i.e. vacancies expressed as a percentage of total staff
demand) fell sharply to 1.3% as compared to 3.1% in
September 2000. The plunge in job openings, coupled with
the rising number of job seekers, led to a further
deterioration in the ratio of job vacancies to unemployed
persons to a new low of 0.32 in September 2001 (seasonally
adjusted). In other words, at the aggregate level for
every 100 job seekers, there were only 32 job openings, as
compared to 61 in June 2001 and over 200 openings prior to
the Asian crisis.
Growth
in earnings has moderated. Both the nominal and real
earnings grew year-on-year at a slower pace of 4.8% and
3.9% respectively in the third quarter of 2001, compared
to 6.0% and 4.2% a quarter ago.
Employment
Outlook
The September 11 terrorist attacks have
derailed any hopes of recovery by year-end. Business
sentiments in the near term have been badly dampened and
even more companies are planning to scale back their
headcount in the fourth quarter of 2001 as revealed by the
surveys on business expectations conducted by the
Department of Statistics and the Economic Development
Board.
There are more manufacturing firms which expect to cut
jobs in the coming quarter, especially those in precision
engineering, process engineering, specialty &
industrial chemicals and electronics. Nevertheless, firms
in the marine industry are still recruiting in view of an
anticipated increase in ship repairing activities. The
services employment outlook turned grim for the fourth
quarter as opposed to still hopeful sentiments three
months ago. The most pessimistic were firms in the banking
and real estate services industries. However, there were
still pockets of firms in the hotel, retail trade and
catering industries which plan to hire workers to cope
with the year-end festive season.
Despite
the gloomy market conditions, there are still job
opportunities at both the higher and lower ends. At the
higher end, there continues to be employment opportunities
for health professionals, educators, research scientists
and infocomm manpower. At the semi to low skilled levels,
there is demand for nursing aides, healthcare assistants,
sales associates, waiters, security personnel, cleaners,
maintenance & conservancy workers, transport
labourers, mobile vehicle drivers and mechanics.
Singapore's deepening recession has impinged on the labour
market. More workers have lost their jobs while new job
opportunities are becoming scarce. With the protracted
slump in global electronics and uncertainties in the US
economy feeding deeper into the Singapore's system, the
positive earnings growth posted so far may come to a
standstill when the year draws to a close as companies
exercise wage restraint. Unemployment rate could rise to
around 4.5% by end of the year and is expected to worsen
in the year ahead as the next batch of new entrants join
the labour market, adding to the existing pool of job
seekers.
For More
Information
The report is available online at the Manpower
Research and Statistics Department's Internet website :
http://www.mom.gov.sg/manpower/manrs/manrs5.htm
Singapore
Government Press Release 14 Dec 2001 |