Job seekers rise in pandemic's worst-hit industries: JobStreet

Discrepancy between job demand and vacancies widens.

Industries that have been directly affected by the pandemic and the circuit breaker measures have experienced significant reduction in openings whilst applications for job ads have increased, according to JobStreet’s latest job report.

The significant reduction in openings means current employees as well as recently displaced candidates in these industries now have to vie for a much smaller pool of jobs.

The top five industries with the biggest drops in job ads are aerospace (95%) grooming, beauty, fitness (92%) retail (85%) F&B, catering and restaurant (84%) and event management and MICE (81%).

Despite the drop in job ads, these five industries saw a spike in interested applicants, with applications in the retail sector soaring 88%, followed by aerospace (81%), F&B, catering, and restaurant (75%), grooming, beauty, and fitness (63%), and event management and MICE with a 27% increase.

As of end-May, there are over 33,000 job vacancies available on JobStreet with healthcare, education, banking and finance, government, computing & IT, security and law enforcement, transportation and logistics, construction, building and engineering, manufacturing and production, as well as insurance industries still actively hiring.

In particular, there was a 41% increase in job ads for security and law enforcement jobs, such as security officer, security supervisor and night security officer. Science and technology jobs registered the next highest increase at 20%, with opportunities ranging from microbiologist to research fellow, laboratory technician to research assistant.

However, JobStreet notes that this does not mean that the industries are not themselves affected by the detrimental effects of COVID-19. For example, the number of job postings for the transportation, construction and manufacturing sectors have declined 55%-75% YoY. They remain the top industries that are still actively hiring due to the sheer volume of job ads that companies in these industries continue to post

The demand for these jobs remains high with over 11 million job related searches observed on Google in April. Admin, data entry, driver, marketing, accountant, human resource, temperature screener, manager, sales and quantity surveyor are the top 10 in the job search rankings in April.

There is a surge in searches for temperature screening roles, which are a job opportunity directly stemming from the COVID-19 outbreak. Searches for data entry jobs also spiked by 162%, thanks to the fact that recently retrenched workers were looking for a quick temporary job without requiring specific industry knowledge.

To help expedite the job matching process by enabling candidates, JobStreet has launched #WorkNow, a feature which can be used by applicants to stand out and get noticed by employers looking to make immediate hiring decisions.

“Although the job market has softened across most industries, there are still companies that are hiring,” says Chew Siew Mee, country manager at JobStreet Singapore. This feature also allows companies to identify candidates who are available for urgent employment.

Besides the #WorkNow initiative, JobStreet has also unveiled the COVID-19 Jobs and Resources Hub. The hub serves as a repository of knowledge, where job seekers can seek advice on carving out sustainable career paths and employees can receive guidance on adapting their businesses.