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Any countermeasures to the tightening of foreign labour?

Q1 (1H) 2013 employment forecast reports

Three organisations have released reports on the latest hiring trends in Singapore in the new year.

They are PrimeStaff Management Services Pte Ltd (PMS), a human resource consultancy based in Singapore; The Archive Group (AG), a HR outsourcing provider in the Asia Pacific region; and, Antal International (AI), a global employment agency.

Their findings reveal the following trends:

- The Q1 recruitment levels in Singapore are on the up and thriving. (PMS, AG, AI)

- The percentage of hiring at the senior levels in Singapore has jumped from 45% to 52%, compared to the previous quarter. (AI)

- The number of positions available in the security and defence sector is currently on the rise. (AI)

- Among 500 companies, 54% plan to hire while only 43% do not in the first half of 2013, an encouraging development for job seekers in Singapore. (AG)

- Almost half of the companies surveyed are adopting a "wait and see" stance towards the new policies tightening the inflow of foreign workers, while the rest are increasing wages to attract Singaporeans and improving retention strategies for employees. (AG)

- The top 3 sectors that intend to hire in 1H 2013 are Banking & Finance, Property & Construction and IT & Telecommunications. (AG)

- Due to the sluggish world economy, many multinational corporations located in Singapore have already implemented a hiring freeze on new and replacement staff. (PMS)

- The sectors that appear to be hiring aggressively in Q1 2013 are Hospitality, Food & Beverage, Retail, Construction, and Healthcare. The manpower demand in the Hospitality, Food & Beverage and Retail sectors will have a boost particularly around Chinese New Year in February. (PMS)

- Manufacture and Banking sectors may lay off workers affected by slow global economic growth. (PMS)

- Due to tighter recruitment budgets, more companies will hire employees on a contract basis. (PMS)

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