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Job opportunities on

rise in Singapore

SINGAPORE: Job seekers in Singapore are becoming more choosy as the number of vacancies increases, with firms hiring more following the recovery from the financial crisis, the Sunday Times reported.

It quoted the Director of recruitment agency Business Trends, Dhirendra Shantilal, as saying job vacancies were up 20 to 25 percent.

"Last year it was 'give me a job, any job'," he said.

"Now, employers are having a hard time recruiting, especially for high-tech work Ñ web designers, e-commerce specialists, and those with technical skills."

According to the Sunday Times, job seekers, mostly fresh graduates, have the upperhand now as the market in Singapore has picked up in the last six months.

GMP Recruitment Services General Manager, Annie Yap said in mid-1997, there were no vacancies and the firm had to "beg manufacturing companies to absorb workers who were retrenched."

"Now there are over 500 vacancies, and the workers seem to have disappeared," she said.

Ho Hooi Min, head of Singapore's Nanyang Polytechnic's placement-services centre, said there was no need to organise a job fair this year.

"Last year we had to call employers to ask if they had vacancies. This year it's the employers who are calling us Ñ at least one a day," he said.

A leading Singaporean bank earlier this month forecast the island state's economy would expand by six to seven percent in 2000 on the back of improving business prospects and a pick up in the jobs market.

Singapore's economy expanded by a strong 5.6 percent in 1999. Following the Asian economic crisis, economic growth dipped to 0.3 percent in 1998.ÑAFP