One in four Singaporeans laid off amidst pandemic

However, three in four hirers would still consider recruiting retrenched workers.

One in four Singaporeans have lost their jobs due to the pandemic, with short-term and low-income workers the hardest hit, according to a report from JobStreet.

Amongst those who had tenures of less than 12 months, as much as 48% reported being permanently or temporarily displaced. Further, 57% of those whose income brackets were below $2,500 per month also reported that their jobs were adversely affected.

Additionally, those working in smaller organisations, as well as those working in advertising/PR/marketing, tourism, F&B, retail, and hospitality recorded the highest percentage of retrenched workers.

Besides job losses, two in five were negatively impacted on remuneration, of which 26% have suffered reduction or temporary freeze in salary. The rest saw negative impact ranging from reduction in bonuses to suspension of salary increments.

Full-time workers, who were on contracts of 12 or more months and earning between $9,000 to $25,000 a month, were the ones most likely to have been impacted. Those in the hospitality/catering as well as F&B industries were especially hit hard, with one in four experiencing a salary reduction of over 30%.

With all these, the report found that the proportion of employees feeling unhappy surged by almost five times as compared to pre-COVID-19 period.

Despite the declining job market, almost a third of businesses that had reduced or frozen new hires were expecting a relatively quick recovery, with 5% already resuming hiring and a further 25% expecting to be hiring within the next three months.

Further, three out of four hirers expressed that for candidates who had lost their jobs due to COVID-19, their retrenchment would not be a factor in their job-hiring decisions. Over a fifth of them said that they would very likely consider these candidates for their job vacancies.

For the next six months, roles that will likely be in demand are sales/customer service/business development (30%), administration/human resources (19%), engineering (16%), and accounting (15%). These roles are more likely to be junior/entry level (67%).

“With the job market on the decline, job seekers have to adjust their expectations when it comes to the matter of salary,” said Chew Siew Mee, JobStreet Singapore’s country manager. “They have to weigh the benefits of landing a job during this time of hiring slump versus turning down an opportunity simply because it does not meet their desired salaries.”