Hiring prospects here worse than elsewhere in Asia
HIRING prospects for this quarter in Singapore were worse than other countries in the Asia Pacific, and the industries which were hiring were also of a different profile.
According to the "Antal Global Snapshot", a survey of hiring and firing trends conducted by management and recruitment specialist Antal International, the Republic experienced a slight dip in hiring rates from 44 per cent in Q4 last year, to 39 per cent in Q1 this year. Also, the percentage of companies retrenching staff at managerial or professional level rose from 12 per cent in Q4 last year to 23 per cent in the last quarter.
Said country managing director for Antal Singapore, Robert Maguire: "Singapore is a very different market in the Asia-Pacific region; for emerging economies like Vietnam or the Philippines, even China, there are many foreign companies moving into those countries while fewer new positions seen in Singapore could be due to reduced expansion here.”
"Singapore is a very saturated and mature market," he explained, and given the relatively low unemployment rate, the propensity to hire and fire diminishes.
Singapore respondents showed dismal hiring activity in the accountancy and banking sectors, with a respective 14 per cent and 17 per cent expecting to hire in this quarter.
The key areas where companies here looked set to hire were in telecommunications (90 per cent) and the public sector, where 100 per cent of those polled were looking to hire managers and professionals for this quarter.
Source: Business Times – 16 April 2012
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