'Recovery will take a while'

Even though the Republic's economy is on the mend, it would be a while before employment picks up again, according to Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong.

Speaking to MediaCorp on the labour market outlook next year, Mr Gan said many employers had retained "excess workers" during the recession because of the various Government measures, including the Jobs Credit Scheme.

Said Mr Gan: "Many of these employers will tap on the excess manpower and capacity that they have before they start to expand and recruit new workers."

Moreover, employment opportunities typically lag behind economic recovery. "Over the next 12 months, we expect the employment market to remain more or less stable, but we do not see a massive recovery of the employment market," said Mr Gan.

He reiterated the importance of retraining affected workers "as it will take some time for them to get back to the job market" - many of the post-economic recovery job opportunities would require new skill sets.

Apart from retraining, workers' expectations also need to be adjusted. Despite having about 20,000 jobs "immediately available" on the database for 14,000 job-seekers, not all the workers could be matched to a job.

Said Mr Gan: "We have done much better in this recession than in the previous one because we have paid a lot of attention to helping the workers prepare themselves for employment rather than just simply job matching."

On their part, the tripartite partners - namely the unions, employers and the Government - were "already looking beyond Jobs Credit ... (to) asking ourselves how we can be cheaper, better and faster", said labour chief Lim Swee Say, who is also a Minister in the Prime Minister's Office.

Said Mr Lim: "Being cheaper means enhancing our productivity so that every piece of equipment and worker can produce more output, so that we can reduce the costs of doing business and enhance our competitiveness."

More than just raising workers' productivity, Holland-Bukit Timah GRC Member of Parliament Liang Eng Hwa called for a more resilient economy which practises "smart growth" by being "careful where our bottlenecks and constraints are ... (and) play on our niches".

"I have spoken to many business people and they have told me that they prefer to have a more steady growth... Excessive volatility tends to attract a risk premium to the business and thereby increasing overall costs," said Mr Liang, who is the deputy chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee (Finance and Trade and Industry).

- TODAY newspaper