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Q3 Employment Outlook

Impact of new policies for hiring foreign workers in Singapore

We have crossed over to the latter half of the year 2012, with Singapore's Q2 economic growth (GDP) down by 1.1% compared to Q1, due largely to a drop in output in the biomedical industry.

Singapore's Employment Outlook for Q3 2012, issued by PrimeStaff Management Service Pte Ltd, provides an insight into what to expect in the employment and recruitment environment.

Here are some of its forecasts:

- Less movement in the employment market is expected, compared to that seen in Q2, during which people generally moved on to greener pastures after taking their year-end and Chinese New Year bonuses.

- The recent uncertain world economy will be reflected in employers' cautious recruitment strategy. Most hiring during Q3 is likely to be for replacement rather than being driven by expansion plans.

- A few global companies, especially those with headquarters in Europe, have already announced retrenchment plans. Conversely, the trend is for global companies to shift their headquarters to Asia because the region's market is showing the largest growth in the world. This shift may have a positive impact on Singapore that will result in a lower unemployment rate.

- New policies for the recruitment of foreign workers take effect this month. This includes higher foreign worker levies and lower Dependency Ratio Ceiling (DRC). These restrictions will force companies to engage more Singaporeans. However, highly skilled foreign talent in senior positions or special industries, such as IT, would still be in great demand.

- The impact of the above, such as increased labour costs, will make companies take measures to trim headcount, improve existing productivity, retain talent and expand business operations overseas. (More information on PrimeStaff Management Service's website)

The bottom line: It's time for us to put our heads together to come out with better employment solutions under the new challenging economic conditions.