Local employment outlook hits six-year low in 1Q16

It fell for the fourth straight quarter.

Singapore’s overall employment outlook has weakened to a six-year low for the first quarter of 2016, according to the latest Manpower Employment Outlook Survey.

The survey showed that local employers expect modest hiring intentions from January to March 2016. Only 15% of employers expect to increase staffing levels, while 6% forecast a decrease and 68% anticipate no change.

This results in a Net Employment Outlook of +9%. Once the data is adjusted to allow for seasonal variation, the Outlook stands at +11%. Hiring intentions remain relatively stable when compared with the previous quarter but decline by 7 percentage points year-over-year. As a result, the Outlook is the weakest reported since 3Q 2009.

Employment outlooks has weakened in six of the seven industry sectors on a year-on-year basis.

The most notable declines of 12 and 11 percentage points are reported in the Services sector and the Wholesale Trade & Retail Trade sector, respectively. 

Elsewhere, hiring plans are 7 percentage points weaker in both the Manufacturing sector and the Transportation & Utilities sector. 

However, hiring plans improve by 3 percentage points in the Mining & Construction sector.

The Manpower Employment Outlook Survey is conducted quarterly by the Manpower Group to measure employers’ intentions to increase or decrease the number of employees in their workforces during the next quarter. A total of 620 employers were surveyed in Singapore.