According to a recent report by Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower (MOM) titled “Redundancy and Re-entry into Employment 2012,” there has been a year-on-year (y-o-y) increase in the number of redundancies in 2012, most markedly among PMETs (professionals, managers, executives & technicians).
PMETs formed the bulk of the 11,010 redundancies last year (54% or 5,960). According to MOM, for every 1000 workers, 7.4 PMET redundancies were made last year, up from 5.5 workers in 2011. Furthermore, the group saw more redundancies than clerical, sales & service (3.5 per 1,000) as well as production workers (5.2 per 1,000).
Analysis by Singapore company incorporation specialist Rikvin shows that restructuring and recession affect not only blue-collar manufacturing workers, but mid-level white-collar workers as well.
“Since the economic crisis in 2008, we have noticed that the demand for skilled workers in multinational firms has been especially elastic and they are more vulnerable to retrenchment when departments are mandated to trim costs. In turn, staff who are retained may have to juggle more tasks or wear multiple hats. Smaller firms tend to be leaner in their hiring practices and do not make redundancies in the way or scale that MNCs do,” explained Ms. Christine Lim, General Manager of Rikvin.
Since the economic crisis in 2008, we have noticed that the demand for skilled workers in multinational firms has been especially elastic and they are more vulnerable to retrenchment when departments are mandated to trim costs.
In turn, staff who are retained may have to juggle more tasks or wear multiple hats. Smaller firms tend to be leaner in their hiring practices and do not make redundancies in the way or scale that MNCs do.
The report also shared that PMETs have below-average re-entry rate (63%), as they face competition from a growing supply of tertiary graduates. Analysis by Rikvin shows that as graduates command a lower salary compared to professionals with experience, and in light of last year’s challenging economy, some companies may prefer to hire graduates than retain skilled, but more expensive professionals with years of experience.
“Hence it’s not surprising that more experienced PMETs who were made redundant prefer not to settle and instead spend more time to get jobs that match their skill sets, qualifications and salary expectations. That said, redundancies and recessions are part and parcel of business cycles. As the government has pledged to further enhance the Singapore employment pass framework, we look forward to fairer competition between Singaporean and foreign PMEs and more competitive salaries for PMEs this year,” added Ms Lim.
—
Interested in starting up in Singapore? Learn more about our Singapore company incorporation packages at https://www.rikvin.com/incorporation/packages/.
Rikvin’s content team includes in-house and freelance writers across the globe who contribute informative and trending articles to guide aspiring entrepreneurs in taking their business to the next level in Asia.
