Yesterday, 30 more confirmed cases of H1N1 flu were reported, bringing the total to 629. With a majority of new cases now locally acquired, it is clear that community spread is inevitable.

In a prescient statement last Tuesday, Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan said, “We have crossed the tipping point, beyond which local transmissions will grow rapidly.” Since then, the government has changed its erstwhile strategy of border control and contact tracing to detecting and prioritizing “high-risk” patients.

This has caused confusion amongst Singaporeans. Yesterday, A Madam Ong Tze Lin wrote into the Straits Times Forum to enquire as to why her husband was not even tested for H1N1 despite developing indicative symptoms and having possibly come into contact with carriers in the Maju Camp cluster.

The Ministry of Health replied to say, “We are… moving from containment to mitigation phase… the definition of ‘close contacts’ and the need for laboratory testing of ‘close contacts’ are progressively being tightened… In the case of Madam Ong's husband, the doctor must have decided his exposure was very low.”

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The Public Service Division (PSD) announced yesterday that civil servants will not be getting a mid-year bonus this year. The bonus is part of their salaries’ Annual Variable Component (AVC), which is adjusted according to economic conditions.

As a result of this and other wage cuts, civil servants’ salaries will drop by between 6% and 21%, depending on seniority. PSD claims that this is commensurate with private sector pay fluctuation. “The zero mid-year bonus will align the public sector with what is widely practiced in the private sector,” said Madam Halimah Yacob, the NTUC deputy secretary-general.

Government economists forecast that Singapore's economy will contract by between 6 and 9 percent this year. There are, however, signs of recovery and indications that the recession will not be as severe as expected. PSD declared that civil servants' year-end bonus will depend on such optimism holding true.

If you have something to say about the announcement, tell us what you think on the JobsCentral Forum.
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Yesterday, the National Wages Council (NWC) announced that its 2009/2010 wage and wage-related guidelines for employers, unions and the government will remain the same as those announced ahead of schedule in January 2009.

The guidelines, which cover the period from 1 July 2009 to 30 June 2010, continue to recommend wage freezes or cuts, as well as the following additional measures:

Cutting labour costs
The NWC endorses the Tripartite Guidelines on Managing Excess Manpower (MEM), which recommend “shorter work week, temporary layoffs, no pay leave, and other work arrangements as alternatives to retrenchments”.

Wage flexibility
The NWC encourages employers to adopt more flexible wages by enlarging the Monthly Variable Component (MVC). It also endorses the MEM guidelines’ recommendation to cut up to 10% of an employee’s basic wage by converting it into MVC.

Government downturn initiatives
The NWC urges employers to fully utilise Jobs Credit, Workfare Income Supplement (WIS), and the Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience (SPUR), all of which are funded by the $20.5 billion Resilience Package.

This morning, the Ministry of Health announced that they have confirmed the first local case of H1N1 flu. The patient is a 22-year-old Singaporean woman, who recently returned from New York, and is currently being treated at Tan Tock Seng Hospital. The Ministry is still tracing those who have come into contact with her.

Now that the swine flu is finally upon us, we need to be more vigilant. Although the strain has proved to be not as virulent as feared, it has nonetheless claimed the lives of nearly 100 people worldwide. Here are some measures that you can take to minimise the spread of the virus, thereby ensuring the safety of you and your loved ones.

Be socially responsible

• Stay at home, do not go to work, and avoid crowded areas if you feel unwell.
• Consult a doctor if you develop flu symptoms.
• Cover your mouth and nose with tissue paper when coughing and sneezing, and dispose of the soiled paper properly.

For more information on the swine flu, please visit the Government's official website on flu here.

Over the past few years, the government has repeatedly urged Singaporean workers to undergo further training to cope with a rapidly evolving economy in the face of globalization and technological advancements.

Policymakers can now sleep easy with the knowledge that Singaporeans have internalized the message.

For every six Singaporeans, five believe that they need to upgrade their skills within the next five years in order to stay relevant, according to the Kelly Global Workforce Index, a survey conducted by Kelly Services in December 2008.

“The survey reflected a strong desire for most employees to upgrade themselves to keep up with the dynamics of the competitive global market,” said Mr. Dhirendra Shantilal, Senior Vice-President (Asia Pacific) of Kelly Services.

In line with employer-managed schemes such as the Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience (SPUR), 81% of Singaporeans further believed that employers should share the responsibility for their skills-upgrading training.

However, it was also found that 47% of Singaporeans believe their employers to have failed to provide adequate training, and 48% think that their HR departments have likewise failed to help them achieve their employment goals.

Yesterday, the Ministry of Manpower announced an update to the Tripartite Guidelines on Managing Excess Manpower, together with its tripartite partners, the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) and the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC).

The guidelines, first announced on 19 November 2008, are to advise companies on how to cope with the economic recession. Since then however, GDP growth has been worse than expected and unemployment has plunged from 2.2 to 3.2 percent, prompting a need for more aggressive and flexible recommendations.

The changes include elaborations on government schemes such as Jobs Credit and Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience (SPUR), and more significantly, updates to guidelines on cost-cutting measures:

1. Shorter work week
Non-working days can be up to three days a week, not exceeding three months, up from two days a week and two months previously.

2. Flexible work arrangements
Companies can implement part-time work, sharing of jobs and flexible work schedules by applying for exemptions from the Employment Act.

3. Salary cuts
Companies may implement more aggressive salary cuts by converting up to 10 percent (or more for managerials) of an employee’s existing basic salary into Monthly Variable Components (MVC).

4. No-pay leave
Companies may implement no-pay leave after exhausting other measures.

Vice-president of SNEF, Mr Bob Tan, acknowledged that these changes may hurt the pockets of employees. He said, “Workers don't earn a lot of money. So if they have no-pay leave, they've got to find other ways and means of earning a living...

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Yesterday, Minister for Defence Teo Chee Hean announced significant changes to career schemes for SAF personnel. These include “enhancements” to the Officers’ and Warrant Officers’ schemes, and the launching of a brand new uniformed scheme for Military Domain Experts (MDEs). The changes will come into effect at the start of next year.

Officers
The retirement age for SAF Officers will be raised to 50. This lengthens the window for long-serving personnel to prepare and search for employment in other organisations, thereby mitigating risk and facilitating the transition to a second career.

Warrant Officers
SAF will introduce a new 3rd Warrant Officer rank, which can be attained by high-performing Specialists after their 6th year in service. The Warrant Officers corps will also be given additional responsibilities as combat trainers. This promises faster career progression and a more varied and interesting job scope for SAF’s increasing well-educated Specialists and Warrant Officers.

Military Domain Experts
MDEs will be trained as specialists in fields such as engineering, nursing, and intelligence, to complement the expertise of Officers and Warrant Officers. They will have an 8-rank structure, and a retirement age of 60. It is yet known how MDEs will be recruited, but the new scheme will definitely add diversity to career opportunities in SAF.

All three schemes will allow [and may sponsor] personnel to pursue further education.

Apart from improving the retention of talent and experience to create a more effective fighting force, these changes also make a uniformed career with SAF more lucrative in terms of career progression and job security. Jobseekers should seriously consider these new opportunities.

Yesterday, US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was quoted as saying that the financial system is starting to heal.

“Concern about systemic risk has diminished. And overall lending conditions have started to improve,” he added.

Although he spoke for the US economy, signs of recovery are also visible for the world economy.

Over the past few weeks, stock markets around the world have rallied phenomenally. In Singapore, The Straits Times Index (STI) has surged to nearly 2,200 points this week from its six-year low of 1,456.95 on March 9.

Investors and speculators are growing more confident by the day in the wake of vigorous government responses to tackle the financial crisis, as well as better than expected results of stress tests on American and regional banks.

Figures released by the US Labor Department also show that there were fewer job losses in April compared to earlier months, again indicating that the recession has passed a turning point.

Likewise, statistics revealed by our Ministry of Manpower tell us that there have been fewer retrenchments than expected.

With the discovery of the benign nature of the H1N1 virus, and even the capture of Mas Selamat, it seems as if all storm clouds have parted.

Is the worst truly over for Singapore’s economy? Tell us what you think by voting here.

Also, be sure to check out the results of our previous poll, in which a majority of readers felt the IRs would hire more foreigners than Singaporeans.