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SINGAPORE – Companies continued hiring during the second quarter of this year, albeit at a slower pace, despite the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the economy, according to a survey by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM).
Despite weaker hiring sentiments, laid off workers were able to find work and did not experience sizable pay cuts, MOM said on Monday (September 7) in its weekly work situation report.
In June the ministry surveyed 2,160 Singaporeans and permanent residents who were laid off in the first quarter of this year.
It found that 39 percent of these workers were able to find work in June this year, slightly less than in the same period in 2018, where 47 percent of workers laid off in the first quarter found work in June of that year.
Of those who found work in June this year, 60 percent did not take a pay cut of more than five percent, and about half, or 53 percent, switched to a different industry.
Seven out of 10 of them also found work in a month.
MOM added that professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMET) and those in their 30s and 40s were more likely to have found work, but did not elaborate.
Last month, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat announced a new $ 1 billion Job Growth Incentive (JGI) scheme to boost local hiring, in addition to the existing Job Support Scheme (JSS), which provides salary support to companies.
“However, we recognize that despite the best efforts of companies and the coverage of JSS and JGI, some employers may still need to make adjustments to their businesses to remain viable, including making cuts,” MOM said Monday. .
“The government will take active steps to ensure that workers who faced displacement can find alternative employment and recover quickly.”
LABOR SITUATION IN THE TOURISM SECTOR
So far, more than 1,400 workers from more than 100 hotels and tourism companies have been, or are being, trained and reassigned to new roles, MOM said.
This is included in two Workforce Singapore (WSG) tourism sector training programs that were implemented in February as part of the Covid-19 support measures.
The programs are the Hotel Industry Redesign Job Rehabilitation Program and the Digital Marketing Professional Rehabilitation Program for Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Exhibitions (MICE), Attractions, and Tourism and Travel sectors.
Employers have also taken advantage of the Enhanced Training Support Package to retrain their workforce, with around 28,000 trainings placed.
Since April, more than 2,400 job, internship, business networking and training opportunities have been offered by more than 220 companies under SGUnited’s jobs and skills programs.
About 41 percent of the company’s jobs, internships, and adjuncts are in PMET roles, such as conference and event planners, systems analysts, and marketing sales executives, and many of them are longer-term roles, MOM said.
Between April and July, more than 900 workers found jobs or took on new roles in tourism through WSG programs.
About 87 percent were mid-career people who participated in career conversion programs. Of which, about half were 40 years or older.
Recent and recent graduates, as well as mid-career job seekers who lack relevant experience or skills, but are looking to join the tourism sector, can take advantage of company internships or links under the programs SGUnited Traineeships and SGUnited Mid-Career Pathways.
These include training for roles such as an event organizer or planner, janitor, housekeeping supervisor, and guest services supervisor or executive, or in areas such as digital marketing, social media marketing, and business analytics.
Last month, WSG carried out 50 outreach and engagement activities in Singapore, reaching 12,200 job seekers.
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