A recent survey by Singapore employment portal JobsCentral has revealed that 2 in 3 employers are gearing to hire new talent in Q4 2012.
Analysis by Singapore work visa specialist Rikvin, however, indicates that local employers are challenged by an increasingly tight local labor pool. Thus, there is an evident need to balance the recruitment needs of local employers with the shortage of available talent.
HR Challenges
Out of the total survey respondents, 67.2% were Human Resource (HR) hiring professionals from both the private and public sectors, who indicated that the filling of new positions (excluding replacements from staff turnover) will increase in the last three months of this year.
Employers with recruitment plans for the last quarter of the year include 62.4% small-medium enterprises (SMEs), 27.4% multinational corporations and 10.2% public sector enterprises.
Meanwhile, 79.5% respondents expressed that lack of qualified candidates is a huge HR challenge. A total of 78.5% were burdened by the difficulty of attracting the best talents, whereas 55.8% cited high manpower costs as a major issue.
Among other findings indicative of the prevailing economic uncertainty, 4 in 5 employers indicated that pay increments have been issued this year. Majority (58.1%) gave out raises of below 5%, 17.2% gave out 6-10% of increment, and 5.8% says they gave increment of more than 10%. SMEs and the MNCs were among those who gave higher increment percentages.
Tight Local Labor Pool
Despite the volatility of the global economy, however, JobsCentral affirmed that Singapore employers still face a tight local labor pool. In general, most employers are finding it difficult to replace talent or recruit new staff for expansion. The problem is further compounded by a shift towards less reliance on foreigners.
Commenting on the scenario, Rikvin’s Head of Operations, Mr. Satish Bakhda, underscored the need to tap high-skilled foreign manpower to fill the void.
“Human capital is a key driver of economic growth. We need to be a more inclusive society and grant more Singapore employment passes to provide an alternative source of labor for SMEs or local companies with manpower shortages,” he said.
“To remain an international business hub and Asia’s financial epicenter, Singapore must sustain its productivity. To maintain high productivity levels, the city-state must balance the foreign workers intake and expand the existing labor pool,” he concluded.
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