IT, BFSI and advertising lead Singapore’s online hiring uptrend

• IT/telecom recorded the most positive growth among industries, with a 22% y-o-y spike
• Software/hardware/telecom professionals were most in-demand, with 8% y-o-y growth

ONLINE hiring in Singapore experienced a rise last month, recording a 5% year-on-year growth between November 2017 and 2018, according to findings from the Monster Employment Index (MEI). This is a significant rise of four points from October's 1% rate, reflecting a positive uptrend.

Leading from the forefront with a whopping 22% year-on-year growth was the IT, telecom, BPO/ITES industry, witnessing the steepest growth since March 2018.

Other industries driving this growth were BFSI and advertising, up 16% and 15% year on-year, respectively.

While BFSI has always been propelling Singapore’s employment landscape from the forefront, advertising witnessed double-digit growth for the first time in eight months.

On the flip side, industries that saw a decline in online hiring from November 2017 were hospitality, shipping/marine, consumer goods and healthcare, with 4%, 3%, 2% and 1% year-on-year drop, respectively.

The Monster Employment Index (MEI) is a gauge of online job posting activity compiled monthly by Monster.com. It records the industries and occupations that show the highest and lowest growth in recruitment activity locally.

In terms of job roles monitored by the Monster Employment Index, software/hardware/telecom professionals were most in-demand with 8% year-on-year growth for the month of November.

Other professions that grew in demand were marketing & communications, customer service and finance & accounts, with 6%, 5% and 5% year-on-year growth, respectively.

Healthcare professionals witnessed a significant drop of 10% from November 2017 to 2018, better than October’s 14% decline, but still with a long way to go. Demand for hospitality and real estate professionals also recorded a decline of 4% and 2%, respectively.

“Technology is evolving at an exponential pace, and while some may say that automation is taking away human jobs, it is actually creating a whole range of new roles which didn’t exist before. Companies are investing in artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate processes, and the workforce needs to be trained to work alongside these technologies to achieve maximum productivity” said Abhijeet Mukherjee, CEO of Monster.com – APAC and Middle East.

“The IT industry recorded an impressive 22% year-on-year growth, propelling Singapore’s online hiring growth this month. In order to maintain this momentum, employers and educators need to work towards developing 21st-century technological competencies in the current and upcoming workforce.”

The Monster Employment Index is a monthly gauge of online job posting activity, based on a real-time review of millions of employer job opportunities culled from a large representative selection of career websites and online job listings across Singapore. The Index does not reflect the trend of any one advertiser or source, but is an aggregate measure of the change in job listings across the industry.