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Telling the people to be cleaners - is this the best the best paid govt in the world can offer?
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Aug 27, 2008
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>Silver lining amid gloom <!--10 min-->
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Li Xueying
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
</TD><TD vAlign=bottom>
The bulk of the new jobs - 50,000 over the next two years to be exact - will be in the services sector. -- PHOTO: BT
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"-->
SINGAPORE'S jobless rate may rise in the second half year, but there is a silver lining amid the gloom - if you know where to look for it.
Acting Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong on Wednesday provided a list of industries that are continuing to hire.
The bulk of the new jobs - 50,000 over the next two years to be exact - will be in the services sector.
From restaurant managers, waiters and chefs, to retail assistants and event organisers - they will be needed when the upcoming big-scale events and the integrated resorts are up and running.
Then there is the 'robust growth' in the aerospace industry, with new projects by industry giants such as GE Aviation and Rolls Royce, which will translate into demand for technicians and engineers.
Over the next decade, the Seletar Aerospace Park is projected to create 10,000 jobs.
And in the finance sector, with segments such as wealth management and banking expected to continue growing strongly, there should be 7,000 new jobs annually for the next five years, from financial analysts to private bankers.
The minister was replying to Madam Halimah Yacob (Jurong GRC), who asked for an update of the hiring situation in view of the government's revision of its economic growth forecast to 4 to 5 per cent earlier this month.
Mr Gan said the new forecast 'means that the economy is still expected to grow, albeit slower'.
'We therefore expect continued employment growth, but probably at a slower rate in the second half.'
Some businesses, he conceded, have become more cautious in their hiring.
This has contributed to an increase in the jobless rate, from 2 per cent in March to 2.3 per cent in June - the same level as it was a year ago in Jun 2007.
Reiterating similar warnings by other leaders such as labour chief Lim Swee Say, he said: 'Unemployment might rise in the second half of the year.
'If the slowdown in export-dependent sectors such as electronics continues, retrenchments might also edge up above the record-low in 2007.' Last year, 7,675 were retrenched - a 10-year low - following three years of strong growth and high job creation.
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Aug 27, 2008
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>Silver lining amid gloom <!--10 min-->
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Li Xueying
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
The bulk of the new jobs - 50,000 over the next two years to be exact - will be in the services sector. -- PHOTO: BT
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"-->
SINGAPORE'S jobless rate may rise in the second half year, but there is a silver lining amid the gloom - if you know where to look for it.
Acting Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong on Wednesday provided a list of industries that are continuing to hire.
The bulk of the new jobs - 50,000 over the next two years to be exact - will be in the services sector.
From restaurant managers, waiters and chefs, to retail assistants and event organisers - they will be needed when the upcoming big-scale events and the integrated resorts are up and running.
Then there is the 'robust growth' in the aerospace industry, with new projects by industry giants such as GE Aviation and Rolls Royce, which will translate into demand for technicians and engineers.
Over the next decade, the Seletar Aerospace Park is projected to create 10,000 jobs.
And in the finance sector, with segments such as wealth management and banking expected to continue growing strongly, there should be 7,000 new jobs annually for the next five years, from financial analysts to private bankers.
The minister was replying to Madam Halimah Yacob (Jurong GRC), who asked for an update of the hiring situation in view of the government's revision of its economic growth forecast to 4 to 5 per cent earlier this month.
Mr Gan said the new forecast 'means that the economy is still expected to grow, albeit slower'.
'We therefore expect continued employment growth, but probably at a slower rate in the second half.'
Some businesses, he conceded, have become more cautious in their hiring.
This has contributed to an increase in the jobless rate, from 2 per cent in March to 2.3 per cent in June - the same level as it was a year ago in Jun 2007.
Reiterating similar warnings by other leaders such as labour chief Lim Swee Say, he said: 'Unemployment might rise in the second half of the year.
'If the slowdown in export-dependent sectors such as electronics continues, retrenchments might also edge up above the record-low in 2007.' Last year, 7,675 were retrenched - a 10-year low - following three years of strong growth and high job creation.
