OS Journal / Blog

Support roles market tightens for job seekers: Employment trends Q2 2015

The latest job vacancy data was released by the MOM this week and our analysis of the data shows that the overall number of vacancies for support roles (administrative, sales and service staff) in Singapore remained relatively unchanged at approximately 17,000 vacancies as at the end of June 2015 (see chart).

Support roles job vacancies

Overall in Singapore, the total number of vacancies outnumber the jobs by 120 jobs for every 100 job seekers, a trend that has been maintained since the middle of 2010, when labour regulations were tightened in Singapore. This lack of labour supply to match demand means employers have to work harder to find the right talent in what is a ‘Job Seeker’s market’.

An interesting trend observed  in the most recent statistics however, is the relative increase in Job Vacancy Rate (# of vacancies as a % of total jobs) for support roles. Despite the total number of vacancies remaining at 17,000, the vacancy rate has increased to 3.2% compared to 2.7% at the end of March 2014 (see chart). This increase suggests that the total number of jobs in the support role sector (~550,000 jobs) is on the decline. This could be due to a number of factors including slower economic growth globally, as well as in Singapore. Job seekers would do well to heed these signs, especially with economic uncertainty on the horizon. Jobs are likely to be harder to come by as economic conditions worsen and it might be wise to get a job quickly or stay put in your job if you’re lucky enough to have one. Q3 is once again likely to see the seasonal increase in vacancies after the bonus season (see chart) so now might be the time for job seekers to step up their job search.

Stay in touch with us and continue to check back to keep up to date as we track the global and local economic trends and the impact that will have for employers and job seekers alike.