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Singapore's Q4 employment still on the rise

While there is concern that Singapore's economy is facing uncertainties, hirings is still steadily increasing in Q4.

Singapore's job market has been recognized as one of the hottest in the world for job seekers, according to the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey.

It reported that a third of the employers here plans to increase their headcount. This is 2 percentage points up from Q3, 9 percentage points up compared to last year's figures.

A survey by US-based employment firm Manpower shows that only 2 per cent of employers were looking to cut jobs with 57 per cent seeing no change in their manpower numbers.

Among the 41 countries covered by the survey, only employers in three other countries – Brazil, Taiwan and India – reported a stronger employment outlook than Singapore.

Countries with the poorest job prospects are Italy, Spain and Greece, according to the survey that polled total 65,500 employers.

"Employers in Singapore recognize the importance of talent as a driving force behind an enterprise and are still hiring actively", says Linda Teo, Manpower's country manager in Singapore.

"They want to maintain the momentum we have seen over the last two years and make decisions now about their workforce", she adds.

All seven industry sectors in Singapore expect to hire in the fourth quarter. However, the finance, insurance and real estate and the wholesale trade and retail trade sectors expect to trim recruitment by 2 percentage points from Q3.

The transportation and utilities sector forecast a drop of 4 percentage points.

Employers in the public administration and education sector are the most upbeat, up 5 percentage points from Q3.

In Asia, four of the eight countries reported an improved employment outlook for Q4. But hirings are likely to be weakest in earthquake-hit Japan.