Online hiring in Singapore recorded another dip in April, slipping 1% YoY according to the latest Monster Employment Index.The index measures online job posting activities and records the industries and occupations that show the highest and lowest growth in recruitment activity locally.
According to the index, the IT, Telecom/ISP and BPO/ITES sectors reported strong online hiring activity, recording a 15% growth in the said month. This is the seventh consecutive month of a double-digit group for the said sectors.
On the other hand, the Government, PSU and Defence sector saw the steepest decline in hiring activity at 6%.
Across the occupational groups monitored by Monsters.com, demand was the strongest for Software, Hardware and Telecom jobs, with an 18% growth in online job postings. It was a different story for the Hospitality and Travel roles as demand for the sector these jobs cater to saw the greatest plunge in online hiring at 10%.
Monster.com Managing Director for APAC and Middle East Sanjay Modi said employment in Singapore has touched an all-time low for the first quarter of the year in the last 14 years.
Citing a report from Citi Research, Modi noted that the 8,500 job loss in the said quarter is the highest one since the SARS outbreak in 2002 to 2003.
"Decline in job creations and increase in layoffs in the Singaporean labour market can be attributed to the slow economic growth across the region. Moreover, the widened gap between employer's expectations and availability of skilled talent continues to deteriorate overall hiring," he explained.
More so, Modi pointed out that Singapore's labour market is in a transition, a hybrid between competitive and productive and a somewhat low-skilled and low-cost domestic economy.
"The future of Singapore's workforce will heavily depend on relentless innovation and R&D at an organisational level and constant reinvention at the government level," he noted.
