Over 4,600 jobs offered by start-ups, top 5 job roles pay $2,700 to $6,000 a month: MOM

SINGAPORE - More than 4,600 jobs and 860 traineeships in some 1,600 start-ups are available to local job seekers as part of the SGUnited Jobs and Skills programmes.

The top five jobs offered are software developers, chefs, engineering professionals, managers in sales, marketing and business development roles, and administrative and related associate professionals, said the Ministry of Manpower on Thursday (Aug 20) it is weekly jobs situation report.

These five top job roles pay a median monthly salary of between $2,700 and $6,000.

Other jobs on offer range from tech-related roles such as app developers to non-tech ones like sous chefs, business development and digital content producers.

Between April and June this year, about 330 job seekers have joined the start-ups with support from the SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package. About half were mid-career workers who took part in the Professional Conversion Programme (PCP).

Meanwhile, about 150 fresh and recent graduates have entered the start-up scene through the SGUnited Traineeships Programme.

Companies cut costs to save jobs

MOM also said that about 6,300 employers have submitted notifications to MOM on their cost-cutting measures between March and July, affecting about 224,800 local and foreign employees - with local employees making up slightly less than half of the total.

The numbers are based on the total number of notifications by employers during that period. "As some employers have submitted multiple notifications to update on their cost-saving measures, the employer and employee counts are not unique," MOM said. 

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The three most common cost-cutting measures were adjustments to monthly salary components, no-pay leave and shorter work weeks.

About half of the affected workers are from three sectors: 52,600 employees from accommodation and food services, 42,000 from construction, and 23,800 from the wholesale and retail trade.

This comes after the tripartite advisory on managing excess manpower and responsible retrenchments was updated in March to include requirements such as notifying MOM if cost-cutting measures taken have affected workers' salaries. Employers are also required to show that they have done so fairly.

MOM said: "Employers have generally been responsible and implemented cost-saving measures fairly." 

"Cost-saving measures, as outlined in the tripartite advisory, are recommended alternatives to retrenchments, which should be the last resort for employers. However, job losses will still happen with the mounting pressure on businesses due to the Covid-19 pandemic," the ministry added.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.

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