'Expect lower pay and smaller bonuses next year'

Workers should brace themselves for a tough ride next year, with lower salaries and smaller bonuses though job losses may be relatively limited, say economists and recruitment professionals.

They were commenting after the Ministry of Trade and Industry's (MTI) issued a forecast for full-year economic growth next year of just 1 per cent to 3 per cent.

In 2008, when Singapore last grew at such a slow pace, job creation nevertheless surged close to an all-time high, with some 234,000 jobs created.

And in 2009, even though Singapore had suffered sharp falls in growth in the first half of the year, following the global financial crisis, the number of jobs created for the year was still healthy at 37,500.