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SINGAPORE – The retail sector may have taken a beating during the Covid-19 pandemic, but there are still about 2,500 jobs on offer as stores reopen and more businesses turn to e-commerce.
Nearly two out of five of these jobs are for professionals, managers, executives and technicians, Human Resources Minister Josephine Teo said in her weekly work situation report on Monday (October 12).
These are roles such as sales, marketing, and business development managers, with monthly salaries between $ 2,750 and $ 6,500, with a median of $ 3,750.
Meanwhile, retail and wholesale managers generally earn between $ 2,000 and $ 3,750 each month, with a median of $ 2,700.
The jobs also include marketing and business sales executives, who typically earn between $ 2,400 and $ 4,450 per month, with a median of $ 3,200.
The remaining jobs on offer are non-PMET jobs, such as store and merchant salespeople, typically earning monthly salaries between $ 1,400 and $ 1,900, with a median of $ 1,600.
These non-PMET roles are necessary to meet the immediate manpower needs for customer service operations, as retail stores resumed operations after the breaker ended, Ms. Teo said.
At the same time, retailers are also increasingly looking to hire PMETs who have digital skills to help their businesses grow on e-commerce platforms, he added.
In addition to jobs, there are also around 610 company-organized internships and adjuncts, as well as around 430 training opportunities available in the industry.
Between April and September, 770 people were placed in jobs, enhanced roles, internships and adjuncts, as well as training opportunities in the retail sector, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said.
Of these, around 700 found jobs or were able to keep their jobs in new or improved roles within the sector.
REDESIGN RETAIL JOBS
The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic forced many retailers to move their operations online on e-commerce platforms and to use technologies like live streaming and virtual reality to interact with customers, MOM said.
In August, nearly 11 percent of the total value of retail sales were online sales, the ministry said. This was higher in certain subsectors, such as IT and telecommunications equipment, where almost 50 percent of sales were made online.
To help retailers redesign industry jobs and create higher-value roles, as well as their efforts to transform their business, the Workforce Singapore Job Redesign Retraining Program (WSG) was enhanced in February.
As of the end of August, more than 550 workers from 37 retailers have been or are being trained and reassigned to new or higher-value jobs through the program.
About 40 percent of them will receive a higher salary after completing the training, while for the remaining 60 percent, employers have vowed to review their wages after the Covid-19 situation has stabilized, he said. MOM.
EMPLOYMENT OF SENIOR RETAILERS
The MOM also gave an update Monday on its efforts to encourage companies to hire older workers in retail and other sectors.
In July, applications were opened for employers to seek financial support of up to $ 375,000 through the Early Adoption Grant for Older Workers (SW EAG) and Part-Time Reemployment Grant (PTRG), which were introduced as part of the $ 1.3 billion Aid for Older Workers Package.
In the first three months of applications, nearly 650 companies applied for the SW EAG, while some 440 companies applied for the PTRG, MOM said.
Almost all were small and medium-sized companies, including those in the retail sector, and some 37,000 employees will benefit from the grants.
The retail sector is one of the main sectors that employs older workers, with almost one in three employees aged 55 and over.
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