Job hopes 'poorer' in first quarter of next year

A new survey of Singapore employers has found that job prospects in the first three months of next year are looking sharply weaker as the economy slows.

Only about one in five employers surveyed plans to add staff, far lower than the one in three in the current quarter, according to the latest Manpower Employment Outlook Survey by US-based recruitment firm Manpower.

This is the weakest figure since the end of 2008, and comes on the back of a bleak economic growth forecast for next year of just 1 per cent to 3 per cent expansion.

Employers planning to cut staffing levels jumped to 5 per cent from just 2 per cent this quarter. The survey found the best bets in the weakening jobs market are civil service positions, education jobs and those in real estate, finance and insurance.