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Singapore. Jobs remain plentiful in Singapore, with many openings for low-wage workers such as waiters, security guards, cleaners, sales assistants and bus drivers.

The situation is also bountiful for professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs). In this category, demand is particularly strong for teachers, management executives and sales managers.

Four out of 10 job vacancies in September last year were for PMETS, according to the latest Job Vacancies report, released yesterday by the Ministry of Manpower.

Overall, however, the number of vacancies dipped last September after having risen for a year — a decline which some economists say is a sign that employers have slowed their hiring.

Vacancies fell from 56,000 last June to 54,000 last September.

The drop is not considered significant by Barclays Capital economist Leong Wai Ho because the number of unemployed in Singapore still closely matches the number of vacancies available.

“Excess demand for labour is dissipating, but not to the point where there are large-scale retrenchments,” he said.

National University of Singapore (NUS) economist Shandre Thangavelu said he expects fewer jobs to be created this year than was the case last year — especially in the export sector and the retail and wholesale industries.

“The electronics sector might see some restructuring, and an economic slowdown generally affects the retail and wholesale sectors. Banks are also streamlining their operations,” he added.

The job vacancies report is based on a survey of 12,600 companies and public-sector organizations carried out between September and November last year.

It found that the proportion of vacancies for jobs requiring secondary education or less increased from 50 per cent in 2010 to 54 per cent last year.

Many of these non-PMET job openings went unfilled for at least six months.

NUS labour economist Hui Weng Tat said the job outlook for those with lower educational qualifications is good.

“This could be the result of the tightening of inflow of lower-skilled foreign workers into the country,” he said.

To make these jobs more attractive to locals, economists and human resources experts said companies should improve wages or work conditions.

Meanwhile, PMETs remained in demand, accounting for 21,500 job vacancies, or 41 per cent.

Andrea Ross, the managing director of recruitment consultancy Robert Walters, said much of the demand is coming from multinationals venturing into Singapore and from small and medium-sized enterprises that are expanding. She said they would be “keen to strengthen middle management.”

The services sector accounted for more than three out of four job openings, in areas such as community, social and personal services, wholesale and retail trade, accommodation and food services, and administrative and support services.

Leong said: “The very large capacity increases in key services industries, with new malls, office towers and hotels opening in the last three years, have pushed up demand for service, support and administrative staff. A lot of this demand is still unmet.”

Reprinted courtesy of Straits Times Indonesia. To subscribe to Straits Times Indonesia and/or the Jakarta Globe call 021 2553 5055.