SINGAPORE: As Singapore’s outlook darkens with growth cooling to levels last seen a decade ago, there could be more retrenchments and fewer job vacancies ahead, said economists.The job losses will likely come from outward-oriented sectors, which have been hit by a protracted trade spat between the United States and China.Already for the first quarter, data from the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) showed an increase in retrenchments – from 2,510 in the previous quarter to 3,230 – on the back of a near three-fold jump in job losses in the manufacturing sector.The economy grew 1.1 per cent year-on-year during the first quarter but amid falling factory activity and exports, growth in the second quarter slowed sharply to a decade-low 0.1 per cent on a year-on-year basis based on recent flash estimates.DBS senior economist Irvin Seah said it is “pretty clear that the outlook for the labour market isn’t going to be great” given the “drastic” growth … [Read more...] about What Singapore’s slowing GDP growth means for the jobs market
Education ministry jobs
Prestariang bags RM22.94m job from MOF
PETALING JAYA: Prestariang Bhd has secured a RM22.94 million contract from the Ministry of Finance. The contract, which was awarded to its wholly owned subsidiary Prestariang Systems Sdn Bhd, is to supply Microsoft software licenses, products and services under the Master Licensing Agreement 3.0 (MLA 3.0) to the Ministry of Education (MOE) for a period of one year. Prestariang said the supply of the software licenses, products and services under MLA 3.0 to MOE will be managed through the Education Alliance Agreement to all schools under MOE (effective from March 10, 2019 until March 9, 2020 at RM11.23 million) and the Enrolment for Education Solutions to all agencies under MOE (effective from July 3, 2019 until July 2, 2020 at RM11.72 million). At the noon break, Prestariang’s share price gained 6.1% to 43.5 sen on 7 million shares done. … [Read more...] about Prestariang bags RM22.94m job from MOF
People with disabilities go digital to improve job prospects
SINGAPORE: Gan Sun Ling had dealt only with the cash register and NETS machine for most of the past three months of her internship.But just two weeks ago, the cafe she was working at installed a smart Point of Sale system and enabled e-payment services. So, Sun Ling had to adapt quickly.“I have to know how to key in the number, then I need to know which button to press, and I need to make sure the customer taps the card properly and make sure it's received, then the receipt will come out. For the e-payment services, the customers just need to scan the QR code by themselves, and I’ll have to check to make sure the payment goes through,” Sun Ling said.The process sounds straightforward enough, but the training wasn’t.That’s because 18-year-old Sun Ling has cerebral palsy, and picking up new skills can sometimes be challenging.“We whittle everything down to a step by step approach, be it to cook or to serve customers, or to collect payment. My … [Read more...] about People with disabilities go digital to improve job prospects
Fresh graduates in Malaysia struggling to find jobs
Malaysian millennials like Shephanie Kuan are discovering that a university degree alone is not sufficient to land them a job. Experience, prospective employers have been telling her, matters as well. Ms Kuan, a 24-year-old linguistics graduate from Penang, has found herself in a Catch-22 situation since graduating last August. "Yes, I don't have enough experience but I can make it if the companies give me a chance," said Ms Kuan, who studied in a local college. Malaysian youth want to be given a chance, but the job market is lean. The country's central bank - Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) - said between 2010 and 2017, the number of tertiary graduates entering the workforce surpassed the number of jobs created for them. In its annual report published in March, it said that on average, 173,457 diploma and degree graduates entered the workforce annually over that period. But only 98,514 high-skilled jobs were created over that time. "This suggests that the economy has not created sufficient … [Read more...] about Fresh graduates in Malaysia struggling to find jobs
Fresh grads in Malaysia struggling to find jobs
Malaysian millennials like Shephanie Kuan are discovering that a university degree alone is not sufficient to land them a job. Experience, prospective employers have been telling her, matters as well. Ms Kuan, a 24-year-old linguistics graduate from Penang, has found herself in a Catch-22 situation since graduating last August. "Yes, I don't have enough experience but I can make it if the companies give me a chance," said Ms Kuan, who studied in a local college. Malaysian youth want to be given a chance, but the job market is lean. The country's central bank - Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) - said between 2010 and 2017, the number of tertiary graduates entering the workforce surpassed the number of jobs created for them. In its annual report published in March, it said that on average, 173,457 diploma and degree graduates entered the workforce annually over that period. But only 98,514 high-skilled jobs were created over that time. "This suggests that the economy has not created sufficient … [Read more...] about Fresh grads in Malaysia struggling to find jobs