Job vacancies decline in Q3 as employers scale back

I hope HR departments and MOM starts checking on the degree and qualifications of these FT. More and more FT using fake paper qualifications or degree to apply for jobs in SG.

I have been unemployed/underemployed since the last 6 mths.Recently offered a position of salary I used to earn 16 years ago with 1-2 year experience then.From that offer if I extrapolate,in 16 years the salary of a fresh technician/engineering associate has increased by 30%, but when I look around at the cost of living,it has increased to more than 50%.Property prices are astronomically high.Food cost is about 70% to 100% more.(e.g mee goreng about $1.50-$2 is now $3,kraft cheese about $2.25 is now about $4.25)
So in 16 years, it seems with all the development and gdp numbers blah blah blah, the average joe like me is poorer not richer.I remember as a kid, where my dad being the sole bread winner could support a family of 5, now I see my brothers and their spouses work,having fewer children and worry about finances.
The average joe it seems has missed out wholesale of the 'prosperity' of the decades or is it at the average joe's expense from where those who prospered have done so?- The business owners maximize profits for themselves by slashing human resource costs.
It is ironic that the worker who sweats into producing tangible products is less appreciated than those who have the talent of a glib tongue and slick personality, who make money helping to move assets around.

There are companies that put certain Singaporean names
in the company to feel to hire more foreign
technicians (PMETs). In fact, these singaporeans don't
work in the company almost everyday.

Please investigate.

I keep hearing tight labour market. Is that to justified
of hiring more FT?
But in fact, there are too much FT being employed
in IT.

Too many software companies just a pseduo singaporean names
to get a project. In fact, many software project are done by substandard FT software
engineer.

Government should enforce that these companies employ the persons who did these projects.
These outsource companies usually employ sub-stardard software engineers who hardcored the projects
seriously. Please ensure that quality is important in software engineer but not the price.
Many of these problems resurfaced many years later like the server suddenly crash
and to restart again or even introduce security problems.

There are many government websites that have serious bug problems because of outsourcing companies
employing sub-standard FT software engineers.

Among all the 4 hot button issues, I am sure PAP failed very badly in this area. That is why Singaporeans & SPRs are always lump together. Time to sack Gan Kim Yong (previous Minister of Manpower for foreigners) & Tharma. GO!

@MOM: Do not approve any foreigners permit if the particular company does not benefit our community! (ex: Healthcare industry). If boss is the only person getting profit by employing foreigner then cancel his/her company license instead of allowing them to employ FT!

Most companies who hire FTs are NON-SINGAPOREAN companies. I say most because there might be local companies who are doing the same. Some of these FOREIGN companies moved their departments out of their origin countries (say US, Aussie, Germany, Japan, etc) and transferred here because of Singapore's cheaper labor, good supply of human resource and promised incentives by Singapore's government. As a result, the countries where they come from have LOST JOBS. Yes Asians (Singapore included) are stealing jobs from the West because of the high cost of the latter.

I believe it is only normal for these foreign companies to hire whatever talent, local or foreign to keep their competitive advantage. They can afford it in Singapore. The gov must keep the pool of talent diverse to keep the country attractive to these companies. This means they also must include foreigners, some even foreigners from the countries where these companies come from. The result of the whole thing is actually some ADDED JOBS for Singaporeans in the process (although the entire workforce may not necessarily be only Singaporeans-- which most people complain about), and LOSING JOBS for others in their own countries.

Now in terms of work approval by MOM. I heard a story from my in law who worked for a huge Japanese firm in Singapore. He said that if his company's HR badly wants to hire somebody and MOM does not agree, they actually threaten that they might leave the country if they can't hire the people they want/need. If this big company does leave Singapore, some Singaporeans would actually LOSE their jobs. Who to blame? The gov it seems... But the gov is pressured by locals to not approve FTs.... this is really going nowhere. Another cycle begins... I say the gov is in a tight position. Maybe a balance can be reached or has been reached... WHO KNOWS?

All I know now, some of these companies are slowly moving out of Singapore because of the increasing demands and costs. Another cycle?... Now the gov will have to do something again.

As i said my dear PM,reduce Ft by 80%,keep only 20% to fill up sector that contribute by FT,with 80% reduction of FT,those employer will sure employ local with a reasonable salary,if u r still so persistent n stubborn to maintain or to bring in more FT,the problem will nv solve.By reduction of total 80% of FT in sg,many issue will be solve.Pls remember my dear PM,it's ur policy that push us to e extreme of e border,when time is ripe we will eventually fight back,u still hv 4yrs more to perform,if FT issue wasn't solve,dun blame us for voting opp party n bring ur votes down,ruling party hv e choice ,we voters also hv e choice.Fair game.

living cost$ so high here - how to survive?

Every job is much the same, carpenter, plumber, clerk, electrician, etc. There must be a minimium wages to survive, just like LHL called for his minister. Without that all hell break lose, I think it has broken lose already.

Dear Useless Ministry of Foreign Masspower
We are truly aware of your laziness at work, low productivity and inability to brave the public's expectations. But we would still like to know, how many citizens have a permanent pay cut ( more than 6 mths) between year 2008 to 2010? If you dun know, work in TADEM with CPF. Don't give us silly excuses all over again like retards.

RING RING ~
Lucid (papy) said that we should be forward looking. So why is Tharma so backwards in his approach and retarded in solving this issue? What was he doing at Harvard? Please, produce more conclusive data.
1. What is the increase of Citizens being employed in Q3 to Q4?
2. How many foreign PMETs were refused renewal of EP?
3. Did E2I manage to improve by closing jobs of locals by 10% within 6 mths?
4. Has TAFP successfully reduced discrimiantaion by 20%?

MOM - there are many FT who performance are below Singapore standards , please sent them home, I worked with a ship management company previously, these Indians from Indian , their knowledge and performance is far below Singapore. They came here to learn and they arr not FT's . So please dont be so blind and allow them stay or exyend their contracts . Sad to say they are protected their higher authority who is only another cartoon.

PAP - what are you doing? What happened to all your election promises? great work 60.1% ... you have open the flood gates for more foreign trash to come in Singapore...

I bet the government don't dare to report that employers are scaling back the locals as they are "more expensive" and "more choosy".

My ex-employer is now 80% foreigners. The batch that was released in Dec are mainly Singaporean.

I lost my job see 2010, up to now with so many years of experience I cannot find back a 2.6K salary .... I don't know what to do....... Do MOM really care for S'porean ??

How many PMET positions are taken by FTs? May share lah....

Someone I know who's in management position said she hired an FT because of the budget given to her. Singaporeans are too expensive for the company, she explained to me.

Can the labour ministry, in its publish of unemployment figures, further break it down to enhance more transparency due to the unique demographics of our country? 2% or so unemployment rate on the surface seems very attractive to my foreign colleagues, but does not paint an accurate picture of the quality if life of the borne-and-bred in S'pore citizens. We know 1 out of 3 in our population are of foreign origin (PRs, S-pass, temp etc.). If we shrink the base to just the working population, it could be a higher proportion of foreigners, maybe 1.2-1.5 in 3, and that is a sizeable proportion 40-50%. Could the Labour Ministry report 2 un-employment figures? 1 for just S'pore Citizens, and the other for foreigners (which I assume it is near 0%, otherwise they would not be here). Then we can say we have a true Singapore un-employment rate that we can reconcile with the people around us who are still un-employed. If the mnistry could also elaborate to clarfiy the definition of economically active people that are included in the un-employment calculation. From readings, there are some countries that excluded people who are looking for jobs but still un-employed after 6 months. These people automatically drop out of the equation, even though they should be employed according to their age.

Among the 54k job opening in Sept, how many go to S'porean ??

i dont believe in the stats