Number of job ads falls in Singapore, but companies seek to fill more tech roles

SINGAPORE - The number of advertisements for jobs in Singapore fell year-on-year in the second quarter of 2016, a new report by Robert Walters has revealed.

According to the Asia Job Index published on Nov 29, job advertisements for positions in the manufacturing, residential property and shipping fields fell as companies were affected by the changing economy, and had to restructure to cut costs as a result.

Advertisements for jobs in merchandising and purchasing fell the most by 36 per cent, while those for the legal field dipped 15 per cent from last year.

And while companies were still recruiting to fill roles in talent management, advertisements for HR and training personnel fell by 12 per cent.

There was, however, one industry that bucked the trend - technology and e-commerce. The industry showed a healthy increase of 24 per cent in job advertisements, stemmed from a demand for cybersecurity professionals and user experience and interface designers.

"As companies continued to digitise their processes, there was very high demand for technology professionals with experience in developing the latest platforms," the report said.

The study was done by tracking job advertising volumes for professional positions across leading job boards and national newspapers across Singapore, Malaysia, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

ljessica@sph.com.sg