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Job vacancies filled more quickly last year, but fewer jobs available: MOM

SINGAPORE – Employers filled vacancies more quickly in 2017 as compared to the year before, but non-PMET (professionals, managers, executives and technicians) positions remained harder to fill than PMET openings, said the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) in its Job Vacancies 2017 report released on Wednesday (Feb 7).

Job vacancies were filled more quickly in 2017 as compared to the year before, but less jobs were available, said the Ministry of Manpower in its Job Vacancies 2017 report. TODAY FILE PHOTO

Job vacancies were filled more quickly in 2017 as compared to the year before, but less jobs were available, said the Ministry of Manpower in its Job Vacancies 2017 report. TODAY FILE PHOTO

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SINGAPORE – Employers filled vacancies more quickly in 2017 as compared to the year before, but non-PMET (professionals, managers, executives and technicians) positions remained harder to fill than PMET openings, said the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) in its Job Vacancies 2017 report released on Wednesday (Feb 7).

The total proportion of job openings unfilled for at least six months dipped from 36 per cent in 2016 to 33 per cent last year, with PMET vacancies falling from 19 to 16 per cent, and those for non-PMETs dropping from 52 to 49 per cent.

A total of 53,100 jobs were available as of end-September last year, which was less than the 53,800 from 2016.

Candidates’ lack of necessary work experience was the main reason cited by employers for PMET vacancies, along with others such as competition for a limited pool of local candidates, and a lack of necessary specialised skills.

Unattractive pay, and irregular work hours – weekends, public holidays and shift work – were the top reasons why non-PMET jobs, particularly those in the service and sales industries, did not hold much allure for locals.

The highest number of PMET job openings last year were in occupations such as web and multimedia developers, teaching and training professionals, as well as marketing sales executives and management executives. They were commonly in PMET-dominated sectors such as public administration and education, financial services, professional services and information, and communication.

For non-PMET positions, vacancies were high for security guards, receptionists, customer service clerks, shop sales assistants, waiters, cleaners, material and freight handlers. These were in sectors such as administrative and support services, food and beverage services, and retail trade.

This year’s report also included a new metric that looked at whether academic qualifications were the main consideration for employers when it came to hiring.

For PMETs, academic qualifications were not the main consideration for filling 42 per cent of PMET vacancies, which included civil engineers, commercial and marketing sales executives, and software, web and multimedia developers.

Academic qualifications were also not the main consideration for the majority (90 per cent) of non-PMET vacancies.

Such “mismatches” will pose a growing challenge, while the nature of jobs continues to evolve with technology and industry transformation, said the report.

To help employers facing difficulty in hiring for non-PMET jobs, more needs to be done in job matching, redesigning and improving the quality of these jobs..

The report also advised employers of PMET jobs to “widen their pool of prospective candidates” and tap on Government support to meet their hiring needs.

These jobseekers, especially those looking for PMET jobs, can also overcome the “skills mismatches” by signing up for the various SkillsFuture and Adapt and Grow programmes to pick up the skills relevant to job openings, said the report.

 

 

 

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