SINGAPORE, 9 Feb 2010: The labour movement is making productivity growth a top priority for this year.

At its Workplan Seminar on Tuesday morning, it set a target of three per cent productivity growth that is broad—based and inclusive for workers and companies.

The past year had been a busy one for unionists — helping workers and companies ride out the economic downturn. It is now time to take stock of what has been achieved and set the tone and direction for the future.

The buzzword this year is productivity. NTUC is pushing for productivity improvement of three per cent, in line with the recommendations of the Economic Strategies Committee. And it wants this growth to be broad—based.

The Singapore job market is expected to do much better in 2010 as the global economy recovers. In 2007 and 2008, the finance sector saw one of the largest cutbacks as the financial crisis struck at the core of the financial system. Fast forward to today, it is expected to be one of the fastest growing sector in Singapore. From the wealth management industry to the investment banking industry, hiring is expected to pick up significantly. Pay packages too are likely to fatten as well. Refer to the salary ranges pages for more detail.

SINGAPORE, Jan 15 - With the economy improving, the outlook for IT jobs looks brighter in 2010, though candidates should be flexible in accepting employment terms, said human resource executives.

Quarterly surveys by Manpower Staffing Services Singapore have shown improvements in the job market over the last three quarters, said country manager Peter Haglund in an e-mail interview with ZDNet Asia. If the trend continues, Haglund said hiring for the IT industry as well as other industries is expected to pick up to pre-recession levels.

SINGAPORE, Feb 3 - Fewer foreign workers, but better productivity to drive a smaller growth rate in the Gross Domestic Product.

This strategy has some Singaporeans wondering to what extent it was economically or politically motivated. And what makes this productivity drive different from previous ones?

The Economic Strategies Committee (ESC) sub-committee on fostering inclusive growth noted in its report yesterday that the "large" foreign worker presence has "incurred infrastructural and social costs".

SINGAPORE, 4 Feb - The job market appears to be looking up with the private sector ready to hire more fresh graduates this year.

It's offering two-thirds of the job openings at a career fair organised by the National University of Singapore.
NUS students who will graduate in July had a field day on Thursday checking out the job openings.The big players such as financial and banking services, life sciences and even fashion houses were present.

SINGAPORE, 22 JAN 2010 – The Asian economy is definitely looking up because hiring expectations in Singapore has accelerated in the first quarter of 2010. This insight is reported in the Hudson report based on information collection by surveying more than 400 executives across key business sectors.

Hudson is a global provider of permanent recruitment, contract professionals and talent management services. These respondents were questioned during November 2009 and 51 per cent of them said they expect increased hiring in the first quarter of 2010. This represents an increase from 34 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2009.

SINGAPORE, Feb 1 — The tentative economic recovery here has taken its first foothold in the job market. Three months after resident unemployment hit 5 per cent, the highest since 2003, December brought Christmas cheer as well as a sharp drop in the jobless rate.

The latest 3 per cent figure is also lower than the 3.6 per cent in December 2008. Overall unemployment now stands at 2.1 per cent, seasonally adjusted.