Job vacancies in the financial services sector soared to 1,100 by the end of September - the highest so far this year and only 100 places shy of the September 2008 figure.
Hiring sentiment in the sector continued to improve in the third quarter, as in the overall labour market, according to the preliminary report released by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) yesterday that breaks down job vacancies by industry.
Job vacancies at banks and other financial institutions worst hit by last year's global financial crisis fell to a low of 600 at the end of Q1. But an accelerating recovery in hiring saw the number of openings rise to 800 by June and 1,100 by the end of Q3.
The posts most actively recruited for in the financial sector are bank officers, financial analysts and administrative analysts, the statistics show. And the sector's job vacancy rate - the number of vacancies as a proportion of total employee demand - was 1.1 per cent in September, which compares to 1.3 per cent in September 2008, before the worst of the financial crisis struck.
Although hiring sentiment and job vacancies are improving, actual labour market recovery tends to lag that of the wider economy.
The Q3 labour market survey released this month showed a slight rise in the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate to 3.4 per cent, from 3.3 per cent in the first two quarters.
Among residents, the Q3 unemployment rate hit a five-year high of 5 per cent.
For job-seekers, the good news is that, as at September, the number of available jobs had risen to 34,900. Of these, 25,900 spots came from the services sector. Manufacturing job vacancies also rose - to 5,600 from 3,900 in June and a low of 1,900 in March.
The ratio of job vacancies to the number of unemployed also rose in Q3 to 0.52, from about 0.3 in the first two quarters. But this was still some way off from September 2008's 0.8 ratio.
Hotels and restaurants posted a significant jump in vacancies to 3,000 by September from 1,300 in June, surpassing the 2,700 jobs on offer in September 2008.
Reflecting the government's move to raise its teacher recruitment target and campaign to recruit mid-career professionals into teaching this year, there were 2,760 teaching vacancies at end-September - the largest number for any single occupation.
The report also showed there were 1,390 openings for private security guards - the occupation with the second largest number of vacancies.
The government has been promoting the availability of jobs in that sector too, customising a Spur-Jobs scheme to improve working conditions and professionalise the security industry.
More private security posts are expected to need filling in coming years as malls, the integrated resorts (IRs) and the Youth Olympic Games are rolled out.
These developments, along with recovering consumer sentiment, are also reflected in the large number of vacancies for shop sales assistants and waiters - at more than 1,000 each.
- The Business Times
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