The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) published the first of its planned series of weekly jobs situation reports yesterday, in conjunction with the Ministry of Trade and Industry's (MTI) second-quarter gross domestic product statistics.

The ministry said, "To help job seekers better access these opportunities, MOM will be providing weekly updates on the jobs situation in Singapore to highlight the opportunities available for job seekers and how they can access these opportunities." 

In the first set of regular updates, the ministry shared that until July about 92,000 jobs, traineeship and attachment opportunities have been committed and made available to job seekers. About seven in 10 of these positions are professional, manager, executive and technician (PMET) roles. Some 42,000 positions are offered by private sector employers, with the bulk of those long-term roles which refer to placements which are longer than 12 months, and are not limited to permanent positions. Additionally, as of the end of July 24,000 job seekers have been placed into either employment or training opportunities with about six in 10 in short-term positions. Around 40 per cent of the 24,000 placed positions are for PMETs.

The initial focus has been on placing job seekers into more short-term jobs, which are for up to 12 months, to handle the increase in the management of COVID-19 related work.

Manpower Minister Josephine Teo said, "About half of these 92,0000 jobs are government-funded, heavily subsidised traineeship and attachment opportunities, or hiring that was brought forward by public sector agencies."

However, there is still so much more to achieve in terms of boosting employment opportunities and helping jobseekers find good placements. The labour market has softened, however, there are still pockets of hiring. Teo added that noting that in future jobs situation updates, the Government will feature hiring sectors as well as job opportunities, highlighting emerging opportunities as Singapore moves towards recovery.

Highlighting emerging job opportunities will help increase awareness among the workforce in which areas to apply for and what skills to work on in order to become more employable. For instance, in the manufacturing sector while overall employment in the sector has contracted, sub-sectors such as electronics and precision engineering are still hiring. There are at least 1,000 positions in the sector which have yet to be filled.

"We still hope that job seekers may consider giving these opportunities a try because they do allow you to gain relevant experience, and hopefully when the company is in a position to hire into permanent positions, you will be in a better place to access these opportunities," said Teo. 

It is no doubt that workers who are able to constantly renew their skills and learn new ones are those who will be most able to find employment in today’s rapidly shifting job market.