Number of available jobs plunged by 20% in Q4

The number of jobseekers also fell by 37%, mainly due to the Christmas holiday.

Singapore saw a 20% quarterly decrease in jobs and a 37% quarterly decrease in candidates in Q4, recruitment firm Morgan McKinley said.

According to its quarterly report, Singapore, which had a strong performance in Q3, saw a significant drop in both jobs and job seekers in Q4.

Morgan McKinley Asia Pacific chief operations officer Richie Holliday said, “Despite closing the year with a low performance, the financial services market in Singapore was stronger in 2017 than 2016.”

Whereas in 2016 Singapore saw a strengthening of fintech hiring and a reduction in traditional financial services roles, 2017 was the opposite.

Specifically hiring in trading, corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions and private banking was high. “Any private banker interested in working can get a job, bonuses and all, in Singapore," said Holliday.

The report added that though shrinking due to the government’s restrictive visa policies, Singapore continues to have a disproportionately large expat workforce, making the Christmas holiday a more significant contributor to the season’s job movement than in Singapore’s regional counterparts.