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SINGAPORE: While the public education sector is hiring by the thousands, its private counterpart, ironically, seems to offer a contrastingly bleak picture over the next three months, if results of a recent survey on hiring expectations are to be believed.
According to Manpower Staffing Services, the public administration and education industry had the second-most pessimistic net employment outlook of minus-54 per cent.
Seven industry sectors were surveyed, involving 636 employers in Singapore. Half indicated they would trim payrolls in the second quarter. Just 7 per cent expect to up headcount but 50 per cent anticipate a decrease.
Overall, year-on-year, employers reported a “very steep decline” of 99 percentage points in net employment outlook — derived by taking the percentage of those anticipating more hiring and subtracting from this the percentage expecting a decrease in employment.
The bleakest prospects for jobseekers appears to be in the transportation and utilities sector, with the private education industry close behind. At least four private schools have been forced to shut in the first two months of this year. And industry sources, say smaller schools with a high foreign enrolment tend to be most affected.
Mr Gilbert Goh is a teacher at one such school. His contract ends next month and he does not know if he will have a class to teach because “there does not seem to be new enrolments”. But most private education providers that Today spoke to, including tuition centres, claimed they have not seen a drop in enrolment.
Some, like AEC Education Group, Process Education Centre and the Management Development Institute of Singapore (MDIS), have either just hired staff or plan to do so in coming months.
MDIS called its hiring outlook “more optimistic than that portrayed” in the survey. “MDIS’ sustained growth requires that we continue to move ahead with our recruitment efforts,” said a spokesman.
And while the Manpower survey was conducted in mid-January, a spokesperson from The Association for Private Schools and Colleges Singapore told Today: “Not many schools start in January. Enrolments peak in June or July. So, until June arrives, it would seem there is some hiring slowdown ... Or, instead of hiring two teachers, a school hires one. Wouldn’t that seem like a 50 per cent drop in hiring expectation?”
Finance, Transport & Utilities
Interestingly, the finance, insurance and real estate sector posted the least pessimistic employment outlook . In fact, it improved quarter on quarter. Is this because hiring expectations earlier hit rock bottom and have since plateaued?
“Banks will continue to recruit full-time positions to fill essential roles. We expect to also see them continuing to utilise temporary and contract employees — which allows them to remain flexible to adhere to any global headcount restrictions in place,” said Ms Lynne Ng, regional director of Adecco Southeast Asia.
At the other end of the spectrum is the transport and utilities sector, which includes logistics and warehousing companies that have been hard hit by the collapse in world trade. The Singapore Logistics Association has already teamed up with NTUC’s e2i to address the training needs of its excessmanpower. - TODAY/sh
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