By Mr Tim Hird, Managing Director of Robert Half Singapore

(15 Dec) 2009 - The Ministry of Manpower today issued its labour market report for the third quarter of 2009 (3Q2009). Amid the recovering economy, employment grew 14,000 in Q3 09, offsetting losses in the preceding two quarters. Services employment rose 12,700, significantly higher than the gains of 7,500 in Q1 09 and 3,800 in Q2 09. In particular, services industries with external exposure (e.g. in terms of international trade and visitor arrivals) such as hotels & restaurants (400), wholesale & retail trade (1,300) and financial services (2,100) added jobs, after shedding workers in the first two quarters of 2009.

Over the last 12 months, many organisations have undergone varying degrees of corporate and manpower changes. With businesses now gearing up for growth amid improving overall economic prospects, they face the challenge of attracting the best people from a limited talent pool and retaining them, or risk missing the recovery bandwagon due to a lack of suitable ‘business ready’ resources.

The public sector provides Singaporeans with a wide range of exciting career opportunities. The MOM, for instance, plays an important role for the nation in developing its vision of “a great workforce and a great workplace”.

By Nabilah Husna A. Rahman

The Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM) attraction as an employer is the fact that their leaders and employees walk the talk. Emblazoned upon their doors is their slogan – “A Great Workforce, A Great Workplace.”

The work by the Ministry has become all the more significant in light of the recent economic downturn as MOM tackles the issue of managing excess manpower to cut costs and save jobs, while ensuring that the workforce continues to upgrade its skills to remain relevant to industry needs.

Both Brian Tan, who is 28, and 26-year-old Marie Low joined MOM straight after graduating from university. Now, they play pivotal roles in developing responsive manpower policies and upholding good employment practices and standards in Singapore.

With the current economic crisis, businesses have become more cautious in hiring and expenditure. Hence it comes as no surprise that 2008 has seen a smaller wage increase amongst the workforce in the private sector, as compared to the year before.

The 2008 wage report released by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) highlights that within the private sector, total wages (which includes bonuses) increased by merely 4.2%, compared to 5.9% in 2007; while bonuses dropped to an average of 2.31 months, compared to 2.36 months in 2007.

After taking into account the rise in Consumer Price Index by 6.5% in 2008, real wages actually decreased by 2.3% – a stark contrast to the increase of 3.8% the year before.

Amongst the three categories of employees, rank-and-file employees experienced the steepest decline in wage increase (5.4% to 3.2%), followed by senior employees (6.1% to 4.8%), and junior management (6.9% to 5.8%).

Visit MOM for more details on the 2008 wage report.

The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has released a revised set of guidelines to encourage companies to consider retrenchment only as a last resort.

The guidelines include input from the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) and National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), and urge companies to notify MOM as soon as possible if a decision to retrench is made.

Instead of retrenchment, companies are also encouraged to first explore alternatives such as redeploying workers, implementing shorter work weeks and managing wage costs through the flexible wage system.

Here are extracts from statements released by representatives of the tripartite partners:

"'Companies should work with their unions to customise the proposed measures to suit their specific circumstances and business conditions." - Mr Stephen Lee, President of SNEF

"I urge companies to use these guidelines in the right spirit to avoid, delay or minimise retrenchments and save many jobs." - Mr Heng Chee How, Deputy Secretary-General, NTUC

"...in situations where retrenchment is inevitable, companies are encouraged to discuss with the unions if the company is unionised, to ensure that retrenchment could be carried out responsibly and smoothly." - Mr Ong Yen Her, Division Director, Labour Relations and Workplaces