Employers report positive hiring plans

Positive forecasts are reported throughout the Asia Pacific region, with hiring plans growing stronger in three countries quarter-on-quarter – India, Taiwan and Singapore, according to the Q4 2013 Manpower Employment Outlook Survey.

Q4 hiring plans in India are the most optimistic across the globe. Job seekers are likely to benefit from a surge in demand for talent among firms in IT/ITeS, banking and construction. Employability skills remain a challenge for a number of Indian hiring managers. Many acknowledge that there is an abundance of business and engineering graduates, but that too many of them lack the soft skills that are increasingly necessary as India becomes even more interconnected to the global marketplace.


Singaporean employers report strong hiring prospects for the October-December time frame. While 25% of employers expect to increase payrolls, four per cent anticipate a decrease and 65% forecast no change, resulting in a Net Employment Outlook of +21%. Outlooks are positive in all seven industry sectors, with hiring prospects strongest in the Public Admin and Education sector (+36%), and in Finance, Insurance & Real Estate sector, where the Outlook is +34%.

Source: hrm Asia

5 reasons Singaporeans are still not happy

Singapore – In the last half decade, Singaporeans haven’t become much happier.

This is according to the latest annual Work Happiness Indicator 2013 by JobsCentral, which found workers in Singapore are only marginally happier in 2013 than they were during the height of the recession in 2009.

In 2009, the overall work happiness rating was 56.4, and today this number has only inched up slightly to 57.9.

Do these findings reveal that there is a serious disconnect between what employees want and what jobs are able to provide?

“This is a worrying trend, as a marginally happy workforce would have repurcussions on work productivity, innovation and Singapore’s economic growth in the longer term,” said Lim Der Shing, CEO of JobsCentral Group.

Other findings from the survey include:
1. Singaporeans approaching retirement are the unhappiest of the bunch Local workers are most miserable at work if they are between 51 and 60 years old, as they scored the lowest on the happiness index at 55.5 – a 12% drop since 2009.
But,on the other hand, those aged 61 and above were the happiest.

2. Money is still king, but Gen Y want “advancement” while Gen X want “work-life balance”
Singaporeans want money, that much is clear, as every generation stated salary is the most important aspect of any job. But Generation X employees are also very big on work-life balance, which is no surprise.
In contrast, Gen Y employees rank work-life balance in fourth place, favouring advancement opportunities in their career after a good salary.

3. But salaries and career advancement cause the most dissatisfaction We want the big bucks and the high flying career and when they don’t come, we’re miserable.
The report states both of these things cause the most dissatisfaction for workers, with many citing the rising cost of living as a reason for needing to keep increasing their salaries.

4. Singaporeans need $10,000 a month to be happy
Those earning $10,000 and above each month are really, really happy. They also have one of the highest increases in work happiness compared to 2009. In contrast, those who earn between $5,000 and $5,999 monthly have the greatest decline in happiness levels.

5. Local lawyers are really unhappy Despite the higher salaries that many lawyer draw, employees in the legal job function showed the largest decline in happiness, with a 6% decrease in overall work happiness since 2009.

Source: HumanResources

Which job pays Singaporeans more than anywhere else in the world?

Singapore - As one of the most respected professions in the country, teachers here are found to be paid the highest salaries in the world.

According to the 2013 Global Teacher Status Index by Varkey Gems Foundation, Singaporean teachers are being paid an average of US$45,755 (S$57,072) annually - the highest among the 21 countries surveyed.

Countries such as the United States (US$44,917), South Korea (US$43,874) and Japan (US$43,775), were a few of the other top earners.

The survey found an overwhelming 95% of countries perceived their teachers to be "paid a wage in excess of the actual wage the thought they received".

However, the report added Singaporeans, similar to citizens from South Korea, Japan, Israel and the US, expected their teachers to earn less than they thought.

Locally, Singaporeans believe the fair wage for teachers should be below what it currently is, by as much as 14%.

But those sentiments did not stop Singapore from coming in seventh place globally, with a score of 46.3 in this year's Teachers Status Index, which took into consideration several components such as teachers' status, perception of teachers' rewards, and the Programme for International Student Assessment ranking.

Singaporean teachers also ranked the country's education system highly, placing it third highest, scoring 6.7 out of 10. Additionally, only a small percentage in Singapore believe children do not respect their teachers, the second lowest in the world, and only 20% of teachers would not encourage their own children to follow in their footsteps.

Globally, China took the first place on the index rankings, with a perfect score of 100, followed by Greece (73.7%), Turkey (68%), South Korea (62%) and New Zealand (54%).

This article is taken from Human Resources' online net and written by Amos Seah.