2009 A Better Year? Think Again!

[makapaaa]

<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=560><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top width=550 colSpan=2>More workers laid off last year than in 2008 <!-- TITLE : end--></TD></TR><TR>

</TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=550 colSpan=2 align=left><TABLE><TBODY><TR><TD><TABLE><TBODY><TR><TD>

</TD></TR><TR><TD class=content_subtitle align=left>Tue, Apr 27, 2010
my paper </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD><TD width=400 align=right><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top align=right> </TD><TD height=15>

</TD><TD vAlign=top align=right><FORM method=post name=emailToFriendForm action=emailToFriend.jsp><INPUT value=/vgn-ext-templating/asiaone/emailToFriend.jsp?vgnextoid=44e92abd44c38210VgnVCM100000430a0a0aRCRD&vgnextchannel=7a8967c086322110VgnVCM100000bd0a0a0aRCRD type=hidden name=emailToFriendPageURL> <INPUT value=http://www.asiaone.com/Business/News/Office/Story/A1Story20100427-212601.html type=hidden name=emailToFriendStoryLink> </FORM><SCRIPT> function openEmailA1AdminWindow(emailToFriendForm) { var emailToFriendPageURL = emailToFriendForm.emailToFriendPageURL.value; emailToFriendForm.action = emailToFriendPageURL; emailToFriendForm.target="_blank"; emailToFriendForm.submit(); } </SCRIPT></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TD></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><!-- Story Without Image / With eXtra Large Image End --><TR><TD class=bodytext_10pt colSpan=3><!-- CONTENT : start -->By Kenny Chee
MORE workers here were made redundant last year than in 2008, said the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) yesterday.
It said that this was owing to the large number of workers laid off - retrenched or released early from contract - in last year's first quarter.
<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=2 width=300 align=right><TBODY><TR><TD><SCRIPT language=JavaScript src="/static/ads/scripts/adsimu.js"></SCRIPT><SCRIPT type=text/javascript src="http://adtag.asiaone.com/tag/a1/js/AsiaOne_business_imu.js"></SCRIPT><SCRIPT type=text/javascript src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adj/AsiaOneBusiness/;pos=1;adtype=1;adtype=2;adtype=3;adtype=4;adtype=5;tile=1;sz=300x250;ord=165144688856381.22?"></SCRIPT><SCRIPT type=text/javascript src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adj/AsiaOneBusiness/;pos=50;adtype=1;adtype=2;adtype=3;adtype=4;adtype=5;sz=10x10;ord=165144688856381.22?"></SCRIPT><IFRAME height=250 marginHeight=0 src="http://ad.au.doubleclick.net/adi/N799.Ad2One/B4427716.5;sz=300x250;ord=[timestamp]?" frameBorder=0 width=300 marginWidth=0 scrolling=no BORDERCOLOR="#000000"><SCRIPT language='JavaScript1.1' SRC="http://ad.au.doubleclick.net/adj/N799.Ad2One/B4427716.5;abr=!ie;sz=300x250;ord=[timestamp]?"></SCRIPT><NOSCRIPT>

</NOSCRIPT></IFRAME></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>According to industry experts, this shows that the global financial crisis has likely hit the labour market more acutely last year than in 2008.
According to MOM, for every 1,000 workers, 14 were made redundant last year, translating to a total of 23,430 people laid off.
This is higher than in 2008 where 11 in 1,000 workers, or 16,880 workers in total, became redundant.
However, as the Singapore economy emerged from the recession, redundancies fell successively from the high of 12,760 workers in the first quarter to 2,220 workers in the fourth quarter last year.
MOM said this reflected the impact of the Government's Resilience Package, as well as efforts by the Government, employers and unions to save jobs.
Furthermore, last year's redundancies were still lower than that seen for past crises, such as the downturn in 1998 following the Asian Financial Crisis.
Mr David Ang, executive director of the Singapore Human
Resources Institute, told my paper that despite the severe financial crisis last year, the Government's initiatives to save jobs, like the Jobs Credit scheme, helped to keep last year's redundancies lower than those in past crises.
"Governments all around the world, such as Singapore's, were more proactive in saving the economy last year, compared to the Asian Financial Crisis," he said.
Re-employment of resident workers also improved after the low in the middle of last year.
MOM said half of all residents laid off in the third quarter last year were re-employed by December. This is higher than in last June, when only two in five residents were re-employed after becoming redundant in the first quarter.
Mr Pan Zai Xian, an associate director for financial services at recruitment firm Robert Walters, said that this was a result of companies slowly rehiring again amid the improving economic climate.
Rehiring has also been encouraging for older workers.
Two in three firms last year allowed employees to work past the statutory retirement age of 62, said Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong at the International Consortium for Intergenerational Programmes Conference yesterday.
He said that nine in 10 workers aged 62 accepted employment offers beyond the retirement age.
[email protected]

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>