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https://content.mycareersfuture.gov.sg/singapore-employment-salary-2023-outlook-industries/ Our job market may look healthy, but there are headwinds on the horizon for Singaporean employees and jobseekers. Without sugar-coating it, there are three significant headwinds affecting Singapore’s job market outlook. The global economic downturn where the cyclical changes will reduce employment opportunities. The ongoing pandemic crisis is still uncertain in its trajectory and may linger on for some time. Technological disruptions, particularly digitalisation, will continue to induce structural changes that make jobs and skills redundant. That said, it’s not entirely all doom and gloom for local employees and jobseekers, though there are indicators that Singapore’s labour market is slowing down with economic growth numbers. According to figures released by the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) in November 2022, Singapore’s economic growth is expected to slow to 0.5 to 2.5% in 2023, due to global uncertainties, down from the projected 3.5% growth in 2022. Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower revealed in an October 2022 report: “In the coming months, a deteriorating global economic environment, higher global inflation, as well as geopolitical tensions could affect the labour market outlook. “Some unevenness in employment growth may emerge across sectors”, they elaborated. On the numbers front, there was a “slight uptick” in unemployment rates, and a rise in retrenchments, though both remained on par with pre-Covid levels. What’s the big picture that affects Singapore’s job market outlook? Arturo Bris, Professor of Finance and Director of the IMD World Competitiveness Centre Switzerland, shared his take with Workipedia by MyCareersFuture: “From the economic standpoint, there are two main uncertainties. “The first one is the global economic crisis caused by the invasion of Ukraine and the disruption of global supply chains. “Its effects on inflation and growth are heard everywhere, including Singapore. As an economy that relies on foreign trade, it is extremely sensitive. “The second uncertainty pertains to China and the negative worrying signals from the Asian giant. In particular, there are concerns about the growth prospects of China and its preference to grow its domestic market instead of relying on neighbouring countries.” Which Singapore hiring industries could see headwinds in 2023? In fact, according to a Business Times report, Maybank analyst Chua Hak Bin noted that many sectors, such as hospitality, construction and healthcare, are still experiencing acute labour shortages. For Singaporean workers, recent employment number gains came from industries such as information and communications, professional services, and financial services. However, the MOM report states that administrative and support services saw a sustained decline, “partly reflecting the gradual scale-back of Covid-related occupations”. MTI also reported that weaker economic sentiments would weigh on the growth of outward-oriented sectors in Singapore, such as our electronics and chemicals clusters. That said, the ministry expects that Singapore’s strong recovery in air travel and international visitor arrivals will continue to benefit sectors related to aviation and tourism. This includes air transport, arts, entertainment and recreation, and consumer-facing sectors like food and beverage services. Lifting of travel restrictions in Singapore and the region has also boosted the recovery of the professional services sector. Professor Lawrence Loh, from NUS Business Schools’ Department of Strategy and Policy, said to Workipedia by MyCareersFuture: “In view of the international economic outlook, particular industries in Singapore like manufacturing and financial services will be significantly challenged due to weaker demands in 2023. “While industries affected by the pandemic such as aviation and travel have been recovering, these have to be continually on the alert for any unexpected new twist in the situation. “Moving into next year, as always, technology will almost always have impacts on organisational structures and products, as well as individual jobs and skills.” “This will happen across a broad spectrum of industries, particularly those that are manually driven such as retail, hospitality and even financial services.” What about 2023 salaries, then? 2023 looks to be a mixed bag when it comes to salaries, according to Mercer’s recently released Total Renumeration Survey (TRS). The flagship annual compensation and benefits benchmarking study identifies key remuneration trends and predictions for hiring and pay for 2023. Over 1000 Singapore-based companies participated in this year’s survey. While local employers anticipate salary increases in 2023 to surpass pre-pandemic levels, inflation is also depressing sentiment, with more than half of the companies in Singapore (54%) adopting a wait-and-see approach to their salary budgets. “Employers remain cautious about bumping up wages to match inflation,” said Mansi Sabharwal, Reward Products Leader at Mercer Singapore. “And many are turning to less permanent solutions such as benchmarking competition to stay competitive in the market (70%), focusing on total rewards communication (69%) and increasing wages of lower-income employees (55%).” Some other key findings from Mercer’s report on salaries revealed which industries could have the highest salary increments as below: Logistics: (4.4%) Banking and Finance (4.27%) Tech (4.06%) Real Estate (3.25%) The aerospace industry is also forecasted to see improvement, with salary increments expected to rise from 3.09% to 3.52% in 2023, given global travel continues to gain momentum in the aftermath of Covid-19. Working in an industry that might slow down? Here’s some advice Associate Prof. Trevor Yu, from the College of Business’ (Nanyang Business School) Division of Leadership, Management & Organisation, shared the below advice: Take a proactive look at your current skill set and project what areas you need to develop and upskill in the next few years. Consider also whether it is time to explore other options in faster-growing sectors like those listed above and what steps are needed to reskill for possible career changes and transitions. Finally, how much meaning do you derive from your current job role? Do you feel engaged both physically and psychologically? What steps can you take to craft or negotiate a better situation at work so that you can give the best that your talent can offer? Prof. Loh concludes: “There are two perennial challenges for jobs – creations and displacements – both of which will be critically influenced by the job market headwinds. “For organisations, especially those more vulnerable to the headwinds, continued transformation is the way forward – it is key to constantly adapt, innovate and strive for resilience. “As such, no skill will remain relevant forever – in fact, the shelf life for skills is getting shorter and shorter. “For workers at all levels, capability development is the surest solution – it is imperative to always upskill and reskill!”

https://fortune.com/2023/01/20/alphabet-layoffs-google-sundar-pichai-takes-full-responsibility-in-email-to-staff/ Google parent Alphabet Inc. said it will cut about 12,000 jobs, more than 6% of its global workforce, becoming the latest tech giant to retrench after years of abundant growth and hiring. The cuts will affect jobs globally and across the entire company, Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai told employees in an email on Friday, writing that he takes “full responsibility for the decisions that led us here.” With the layoffs, Google joins a host of other tech giants that have drastically scaled back operations amid a faltering global economy and soaring inflation. Meta Platforms Inc., Twitter Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. have all slashed their ranks. Thanks to a resilient search business, Google has been one of the longest tech holdouts avoiding major workforce reductions. But the company is dealing with a slowdown in digital advertising and its cloud-computing division continues to trail Amazon and Microsoft Corp. “These are important moments to sharpen our focus, reengineer our cost base, and direct our talent and capital to our highest priorities,” Pichai wrote in the email. He said the company has a “substantial opportunity in front of us” with artificial intelligence, a key investment area where Google is facing a surge in recent competition. In October, the company reported earnings and revenue that missed analyst expectations. Profit declined 27% to $13.9 billion compared to the prior year. At the time, Pichai said Google would curb its expenses and Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat said the number of new jobs would fall by more than half in the fourth quarter from the previous period. Google’s reduction in headcount follows investor pressure to adopt a more aggressive strategy to curb spending. In November, TCI Fund Management Ltd. urged the internet search giant in an open letter to publicly set a target for profit margins, increase share buybacks and reduce losses in its portfolio of Other Bets, Alphabet’s moonshot division. “The company has too many employees and the cost per employee is too high,” TCI Managing Director Chris Hohn said, noting that Alphabet’s headcount had swelled 20% per year since 2017. According to the human-resources consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., the most job cuts in 2022 were in the tech sector — 97,171 for the year, up 649% compared to the previous year. Google has made a series of cost-cutting moves in recent months, canceling the next generation of its Pixelbook laptop and permanently shuttering Stadia, its cloud gaming service. Earlier in January, Verily, a biotech unit of Alphabet, said it was cutting 15% of its staff. Pichai said Alphabet would be paying affected employees 16 weeks of severance and six months worth of health benefits in the US, with other regions receiving packages based on local laws and practices.

McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski recently sent a letter to employees around the world saying the company will roll out cost-cutting programs, launch a massive restructuring, eliminate some jobs and lay off staff.

Source: https://mustsharenews.com/shopee-retrench-southeast-asia/ Shopee To Reportedly Retrench Staff In Southeast Asia To Optimise Operations Throughout the pandemic, many tech firms have gone on hiring sprees with some companies even paying top dollar for talented individuals. However, as the global economic situation becomes more uncertain, it seems some firms will be scaling back. According to multiple reports, a memo from Shopee’s chief executive Chris Feng states that the company will be making “adjustments” to optimise its operations. This comes just months after Shopee pulled out of the French and Indian markets earlier in March. While it’s unclear how many staff members will be laid off and in which countries, Shopee has shared that they will do their “very best” to support the affected workers. Shopee to retrench workers but provide support after According to The Straits Times (ST), Mr Feng sent an internal memo on Monday (13 Jun) announcing that Shopee is laying off workers in its ShopeeFood and ShopeePay teams in Southeast Asia. Teams in other countries like Chile, Argentina, and Mexico will also be affected, as will a cross-border team supporting the Spanish market. Mr Feng said, Although the retrenchments will come soon, Mr Feng reiterated that it will be business as usual. The memo reportedly does not state which Southeast Asian countries the layoffs will affect. ST notes that Shopee has outposts in Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, and the Philippines. Its regional headquarters are located in Singapore. Since such a major restructure would undoubtedly impact many families, Mr Feng added that the company will do “the very best” they can to support the staff they let go. MS News has reached out to Shopee for comments and will update the article when they get back. Hopefully, retrenchment numbers are lower than anticipated After going on a hiring spree during the pandemic, it looks like many tech companies are starting to cut jobs instead. Hopefully, not too many Shopee employees will lose their jobs. Additionally, we hope the affected workers will be able to get the necessary support and find new work in no time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwinism Darwinism is a theory of biological evolution developed by the English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and others, stating that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural selection of small, inherited variations that increase the individual's ability to compete, survive, and reproduce. https://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/ministry-of-food-winding-up-fails-to-pay-debt-of-200000 Ministry of Food winding up, fails to pay debt of $200,000 SINGAPORE - Home-grown restaurant chain Ministry of Food is winding up after failing to pay a debt of $200,000. We all know Charles Darwin so I'm not going to explain his theory of natural selection. Nevertheless, I created this thread because it's pretty amazing we're 1 year plus into the pandemic and there are businesses/individuals that still refuses to evolve. They continue to think the world will return to normal and rely on government aid (tax payers money) or cheap labor (maximize margin) to drive their organizations (plus complain a lot). Do you think they are worth saving?

SPH retrenching 140 employees due to Covid-19 source: https://mothership.sg/2020/08/sph-retrench-140-employees/ Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) held a restructuring exercise on Tuesday, Aug. 18, laying off 140 employees from the Media Solutions Division (MSD) and SPH Magazines. According to SPH, this accounts for about 5 per cent of the group's overall headcount, and will incur retrenchment costs of approximately S$8 million. Covid-19 has significantly impacted advertising revenue SPH's CEO Ng Yat Chung said that subscription and readership of SPH's news titles have "increased since the onset of Covid-19", but the Covid-19 pandemic has also significantly impacted their advertising revenue. "A more integrated approach of producing and selling our content across our various platforms will allow us to deal more efficiently and effectively with the new level of demand we are seeing from our advertisers and audience," said Ng. According to SPH's statement, the group has informed the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), the Creative Media and Publishing Union (CMPU) and National Trades Union Congress on this exercise. Affected staff will receive compensation on terms negotiated and agreed with the union. "CMPU and SPH management jointly reviewed the selection criteria to ensure that the Singaporean Core within the company is safeguarded as far as possible. The union also negotiated for a fair compensation package for affected employees", said CMPU in a media statement. SPH also said that it have been working closely with the union and the Employment and Employability Institute (e2i) to ensure that affected staff will receive the help and support they require during this period. SPH's last retrenchment exercise was in October 2019 This is SPH's third round of retrenchment since 2017. In October 2019, SPH announced that it will retrench 5 per cent of its staff by the end of the year, despite earning a profit of S$213.2 million for the financial year which ended in Aug. 31, 2019. In October 2017, the media group cut 230 jobs, 130 of which were retrenchments. The remaining job reductions resulted from retirement, termination of contracts and roles that were eliminated due to restructuring of work processes. This resulted in a total of 15 per cent of the staff in newsrooms and sales operations being reduced. According to SPH, the company has reviewed its costs, cut back on discretionary spending, and instituted pay cuts for senior management since the start of the Covid-19 crisis. In March this year, SPH announced that its directors, which includes the CEO, and senior management would be taking voluntary pay cuts of 10 per cent and 5 per cent respectively.

what would you do? i'd probably enjoy the retrenchment money for a couple of weeks, then think about the kids, panic and take grab license.... or give tuition, or learn massage and target rich tai tais while filling spare time sending resumes... sounds sad you?

Mercedes-Benz to axe more than 1,000 jobs in cost-cutting drive source: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/nov/14/mercedes-benz-axe-1000-jobs-cost-cutting-drive-electric-vehicles Move blamed on heavy cost of investing in electric vehicles just as traditional car sales slow Mercedes-Benz plans to save €1.65bn (£1.4bn) by cutting more than 1,000 jobs in the latest sign German carmakers are struggling to make big investments in electric car technology. Carmakers around the world are spending billions on developing battery-powered electric vehicles but at the same time sales of internal combustion engines are slowing in the face of economic weakness and scandals over emissions. Mercedes-Benz’s premium cars division will bear the bulk of the job cuts, its parent company, Daimler, said on Thursday, with cuts of €1bn from its wage bill expected by 2022. Management and contractors will be particularly affected, while the vans and trucks divisions will together cut €650m in staff and other costs. Mercedes-Benz’s premium cars division will bear the bulk of the job cuts, its parent company, Daimler, said on Thursday, with cuts of €1bn from its wage bill expected by 2022. Management and contractors will be particularly affected, while the vans and trucks divisions will together cut €650m in staff and other costs. “This will have a negative impact on our earnings in 2020 and 2021. To remain successful in the future, we must therefore act now and significantly increase our financial strength.” Daimler shares fell by 3% in early trading on Wednesday, to €51.97. It made earnings before tax of €10.6bn in 2018 but has given repeated profit warnings during 2019 and analysts forecast earnings before tax of about €6.3bn for 2019, according to average estimates from S&P Global Market Intelligence. As well as the global race for electrification, Daimler faces the prospect of further legal costs in relation to alleged breaches of emissions regulations. The scandal over diesel emissions cheating technology has also dented the rival German carmaker Volkswagen.

StarHub job cuts result of strategic transformation plan Sources: https://www.straitstimes.com/forum/letters-in-print/starhub-job-cuts-result-of-strategic-transformation-plan We thank Mr Tan Kar Quan for his comments (Laying off staff not always the best strategy, May 25). Telecommunications companies globally and in Singapore are being disrupted by issues ranging from digitalisation and cloud-based services to changing consumer preferences and the ongoing convergence in information and communications technologies (ICT). As mobile, broadband and content penetration rates are already very high in Singapore, StarHub has to continually transform its operating model and seek growth in adjacent segments, such as cyber security and enterprise ICT solutions. As part of our strategic transformation plan aimed at consistently delivering a better customer experience, we embarked on simplifying and redesigning our company structure, product offerings and internal processes last year. This regrettably led to a reduction of roles and colleagues from our team - reducing our workforce is not our strategic intent. Increasing our capabilities, accelerating growth, offering a better brand experience, and adapting to the realities of the rapidly changing market we operate in are among targets at the core of our strategy. To this end, our transformation plans will always include the reskilling, retraining and redeployment of our employees to be able to handle future functions. We will also continue to explore opportunities to accelerate our growth through the launch of innovative services and the acquisition of companies. The acquisition of companies offers us access to services, technologies, customers and new talent that otherwise will require many years of development with no certainty of success. A successful business strategy is inclusive of many growth initiatives, home-grown and acquired, and leverages the collective wisdom and capabilities of everyone at StarHub. Peter Kaliaropoulos Chief Executive Officer StarHub

Court punishes Hewlett-Packard for under paying sales rep……. SINGAPORE — A retrenched sales product specialist with IT firm Hewlett-Packard (HP) is entitled to about S$600,000 in incentives for winning back a client, the High Court has ruled. In a judgment made public today (Aug 5), Judicial Commissioner Edmund Leow ruled that Ms Corinna Chin Shu Hwa had helped win back electronic payments provider NETS as a customer for the Singapore subsidiary of HP, and the contract fell within the definition of “new business” for HP. NETS was a HP customer but decided in late 2010 to buy IBM servers. The platform-migration process ran into problems and Ms Chin and her colleagues tried to woo NETS back in 2011 by, among other things, refusing to extend maintenance services for the existing servers unless NETS inked a new contract with HP. This put pressure on NETS’ planned migration to the IBM servers, and it eventually ordered new HP servers in a March 2012 contract worth about S$5.38 million. HP had argued that the NETS contract failed to meet the criteria for new business, and paid Ms Chin S$229,370.60 in incentives when it retrenched her in June 2012. JC Leow ruled that HP’s meaning of “new end user customer” – part of how sales specialists’ performances were assessed from November 2011 – was ambiguous. The justice of the case demands that the company bear the risk of this ambiguity, he added. “In terms of sales, NETS had been lost as a customer” when it decided to buy IBM servers in late 2010, the judge wrote. Although NETS’ platform migration was from existing HP servers to new HP ones, it was because NETS was won back as a customer before the migration process was complete, and was hence not a “technology refresh contract”, JC Leow noted. “Therefore, NETS was a ‘win back’ – i.e. a new end user customer – when it signed a contract for HP’s NonStop Blades servers in March 2012”, and was considered “new business”, he ruled. And as Ms Chin was involuntarily terminated in June 2012 before the end of HP’s financial year, the calculation of her incentive pay should be on a pro-rated basis rather than a full-year basis, JC Leow said. http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/court-orders-hewlett-packard-pay-retrenched-sales-specialist-about-s627000 http://www.stjobs.sg/career-resources/money-matters/former-exec-sues-hp-for-more-than-600000/a/159351

Seeing such a large scale retrencmenh, very sad. Somemore Chinese new year coming, should be receiving ang pow or AWS instead of this. http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/singapore/story/500-workers-retrenched-hard-drive-firm-hgst-union-help-20131227

Hope no one affected. is there a slowdown in the electronics sector?

20 will be let go after CNY. so sad for them

What are the option will you take? 1) Obviously, look for another job. 2) Go on holiday as a backpack for 1 yr 3) Go oversea to study.