SINGAPORE : Employees in Singapore may be smiling all the way to the bank this year, according to recruitment companies.

They say it's a rosy employment outlook, with bigger salaries and bonuses expected, compared to other countries in Asia Pacific.

Hiring is also expected to reach fever pitch in the first quarter.

Since the beginning of the year, recruitment companies in Singapore say they've been kept busy.

"Judging by what I see in the first few weeks of January, it's still going very well. My colleagues are kept extremely busy, and we're being pressured by clients to deliver shortlists of candidates. We are still very much riding that wave," says Florence Ng, MD of Michael Page International Singapore.

"As to what's going to happen in the second half of the year, there is talk that growth might slow down in the second half year, but who knows? I think the economy, the way it is now, is a lot more resilient and a lot more robust, compared to a decade ago. Even if there is a slowdown, I would expect that recruitment activity would still be fairly active."

One recruitment company is increasing its headcount by some 20 percent to cope with demand from clients.

Hudson, which surveyed more than 600 human resource practitioners in Singapore, says more than half expect to hire in the first quarter, and this will continue throughout the year.

But that's not all.

Mark Sparrow, country manager of Hudson Singapore, says: "Companies are working very hard at remuneration packages, salaries and bonuses which they expect to increase significantly this year. More than 50% of companies expect their salaries and bonuses to increase.

"At the same time last year, 39% of companies expected higher bonuses and higher salaries. This year it's 58%, so that tells you the story of what companies are expecting to do now."

The top industries to look out for are banking, IT and consumer sectors.

"Overall, the picture we are getting is everyone is looking at hiring, looking at remuneration, bonus policy, retaining staff and how we can we attract talent. There don't seem to be any downplay in any specific industry," says Sparrow.

Recruitment companies expect poaching to be more prevalent in the market and turnover across all industries to increase further, with the buoyant economic outlook.

On the other hand, some companies Channel NewsAsia spoke to say placement firms may have an overly optimistic picture and urge more realistic expectations. - CNA /ls