Q1 Employment Outlook
PrimeStaff’s Press Release, Wednesday, 9th January 2013
The global economy appears to be stabilising and is more positive compared with recent months. Now that the United States elections are over and news that the “fiscal cliff” has been avoided, more certainty has returned to the markets. This has helped to boost economic and business sentiment around the world.
On home ground, however, economists are predicting muted growth for Singapore this year, which is attributed to the slowdown in regional economies such as Korea and Japan, as well as the continued gloomy outlook in the euro zone.
Overall, Singapore’s economy is likely to remain similar to 2012, if not better.
GENERAL EMPLOYMENT OUTLOOK
The first quarter of each year traditionally sees a flurry of movement in the job market, as people tend to seek new opportunities after the Chinese New Year period when they receive their bonus. The start of the year is also when companies allocate their budgets, establish their hiring plans for the year, and begin their recruitment drives, which also contributes to the spike in hiring activity.
However, given the forecast for moderate economic growth in 2013, some companies are tightening their recruitment budgets so most of the hiring is likely to be for replacement roles instead of new jobs created. Some organisations may even streamline their headcounts by having more staff on a contractual basis or on flexi-‐ work programmes.
Due to the prolonged economic challenges in the euro zone and sluggish growth in the United States, many Multinational Corporations (MNCs) located in Singapore have already implemented a hiring freeze on new and replacement roles.
All in all, Singapore’s unemployment rate is expected to remain status quo. There is, however, the possibility of a very slight increase in unemployment during this period.
INDUSTRY OUTLOOK
The sectors that will be hiring aggressively in Q1, 2013 will be Hospitality, Food & Beverage, Retail, Construction, and Healthcare. This is mainly due to the manpower crunch in these sectors resulting from the tightening of the foreign worker employment policies.
Another contributing factor to this phenomenon is Singapore’s perennial emphasis on tourism as a key pillar of the economy. Naturally, a boost in tourism translates to a spike in manpower demand for the Hospitality, Food & Beverage, and Retail sectors in particular. These sectors will also require more manpower in the build-‐up to Chinese New Year in February.
We are also seeing greater demand for workers in certain niche areas such as Education Research, IT engineering, and Customer Service roles in the Insurance industry.
At the other end of the spectrum, the sectors that may lay off workers include Manufacturing and Banking. The former will be affected by sluggish global economic conditions while the Banking industry faces stiff competition and may have to restructure its workforce in response to changing market needs.
Ronald Lee
Managing Director
PrimeStaff Management Services Pte Ltd