Brace yourself for more bad news; unemployment is expected to rise sharply this year as retrenchments increase and job vacancies fall because of the US economic slowdown.
The jobless rate fell to 2.4% in the first quarter from 2.9% the previous quarter.
But this is expected to be shortlived as new graduates flood the market this month, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said in a report yesterday.
The slowing economy has started to affect the Singapore labour market. Nearly all indicators point to slackening in the labour market.
The entry of this year’s cohort of tertiary graduates and the expected weakening in labour demand is likely to aggravate the labour market condition in the months ahead.
About 23000 tertiary students – 10000 university graduates and 13000 polytechnic graduates – will enter the job market this year.
The MOM report cited a survey of business expectations by the Department of Statistics and the Economic Development Board which warned of further deterioration in business conditions for the key manufacturing sector. This suggested dismal employment prospects ahead.
Companies in electronics and precision engineering sectors, which were badly hit by the global downswing, expect to further cut staff in the second half.
Overall manpower demand will falter if economic conditions continue to soften and the weakness spills over to services. A 20% drop in media recruitment advertising in April from the previous month. The weaker employment outlook ahead is a concern for workers. Retrenchment is likely to rise further in the coming months. Further, new entrants into the job market may face more difficulties getting jobs as companies try to contain their wage costs by holding back recruitment.
This reflects the weakness in global demand for electronics products and faltering US economy. Job vacancies fell to 19755 in March from 22115 in January. For every 100 job seekers, there were 76 job openings this March, from a high of 114 last September. |
收藏