Labour and employment problems may not be as bad in Singapore.
Despite the grey clouds of pessimism that have coalesced into dark thunderous headlines about our economy, Bloomberg has reported that in Singapore, labour and employment problems may not be as bad in Singapore (relatively speaking).
On a global average, it takes 6 weeks for the job searching process itself. And when jobs are finally found, only 12% make it to the interview round. A further cut occurs with only 17% of the workers getting hired. That’s about a 2% (12% x 17%) chance of getting hired. It’s not that the economy that is necessarily bad, it just isn’t easy trying to get a job anymore. The total duration from job seeker to employee would ultimately take 10 weeks on a global average.
Despite our highest retrenchment numbers since 2009 at 13,730 workers in 2016, Singapore is considerably the best in the world to be “unemployed”. According to MOM, it takes merely 8 weeks to find another job in Singapore—less than half of Australia’s. With Hong Kong leading at 9 weeks, and US at 11 weeks.
Plausible connections?
While there are increasing numbers of workers being laid off, re-entry rates have risen. 49% of the citizens made redundant in Singapore managed to secure re-employment within 3 months.
Even the older generation, who are presumably at the highest risk of losing their jobs given a potential mismatch of skills, are not seeing an entirely bleak picture. 98% of elderly who reached retirement age are offered re-employment.
Government concerns—Tight labour market
Perhaps the bigger issue lies on the other side of the job equation, as there seems to be a huge gap in the market for the new fourth revolution skills needed today.
There is prevailing fear that the unemployment rate might jump from the current 2.1% to above 3%, highest since 2010. Innovation and entrepreneurship had surfaced from the local scene, leading to an increase in demand for newer tech and IT skills. Without adequate matching of relevant skilled labour, we may face a paradox of high unemployment and a tight labour market.
Krystal Tan, an economist at Capital Economic Limited, reflected that the scarcity of required cutting-edge skillsets have led to greater focus by government to hone the next generation of workers.