Singapore job market remains tight: economists

Singapore job market remains tight: economists

By S Ramesh
POSTED: 12 Apr 2013 9:06 PM
 
Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) chief Stephen Lee and economists say Singapore's job market remains tight, especially in the rank-and-file jobs.

SINGAPORE: Singapore's manufacturing plants can boost production quite quickly if external demand improves, especially in Southeast Asia and the United States.

That's the view of the president of the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) Stephen Lee and economists who commented on the flash GDP estimates for the first quarter of 2013.

They added that Singapore's job market remains tight.

One economic data which the business community is closely watching is the contraction in the manufacturing sector, said National University of Singapore (NUS) economist Associate Professor Shandre Thangavelu.

He said: "We need to monitor this very closely, whether these shocks are systemic to Singapore or whether they are regional based.

"If they are regional based, then there are good signs that we can recover in the second quarter especially if the US economy picks up.

"If it is systemic just to Singapore, which means some policy adjustments within the economy in terms of foreign workers might be giving us a little bit more downside risks, that we have to monitor closely."

Local businesses are still focusing on how they can improve productivity, said SNEF president Stephen Lee.

He said: "The positive point is that many SMEs have already gone through the recognition that the adjustment of foreign worker policy is here to stay and therefore they are now turning their attention more to how to improve their operations and how to get more businesses, rather than trying to apply and re-apply for more foreign workers.

"The PIC (Productivity and Innovation Credit) scheme is the most used and we continue to educate our members to tap into the other schemes. I am hopeful that the members will make better use for the schemes."

Another important factor which economists monitor closely in Singapore is the state of the job market and they said the job market is still healthy, in fact, tight.

Companies are still finding it difficult to get workers to fill up job positions in their firms.

Mr Lee explained: "The tightness is especially in the rank-and-file type of work. From the MOM (Ministry of Manpower)survey, the job vacancies are currently 30 percent in the PME jobs and 70 percent in the rank-and-file jobs.

"It also depends on the GDP. If the GDP figure performs worse than we anticipate, then I expect the demand will somehow ease."

Economists also feel it is premature to tell if the Singapore government would revise its 2013 GDP forecast of between one and three percent.


- CNA/ir


- wong chee tat :)