More Singaporeans believe job options are shrinking

Job optimism is on a marked decline with 46% believing there are "not enough" opportunities.

Employees are now less secure about finding work. Only 54% of Singaporeans think there are "enough" or "lots of" opportunities in the job market, down from 80% last year, according to a new research survey from Berkley Group Asia.

“Although Singapore posted the kind of GDP growth in 2011 that would be the envy of the US and the EU, the country is clearly not immune from a global slowdown. The economy was very subdued in the latter stages of 2011, and employees in Singapore have adjusted their outlook accordingly,” said Steve Greenwood, Chief Executive Officer at Berkley Group Asia.

Even less developed Asian nations like Indonesia and the Philippines had a brighter outlook on the jobs front.

“Job sentiment in Singapore is lower than some of its less developed neighbours such as Indonesia and the Philippines,” said Greenwood.

The silver lining is that pessimism is more widespread elsewhere. Confidence levels in some major countries were lower than Singapore's, namely the US (45%), UK (44%) and France 42%).

“Confidence here is still higher than in some of the more mature global economies, including the USA, the UK and France. It could be that employees in EU countries in particular became increasingly pessimistic in 2011 as the Eurozone crisis hit corporate growth.”

A total of 3,400 staff from Singapore and around the world were interviewed.