Singapore focuses on saving jobs amid COVID-19 pandemic

Singaporean Minister of Manpower Josephine Teo said on March 20 that job vacancies in the city-state are expected to fall further this year given global uncertainties and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Illustrative image (Photo: straitstimes)

Singaporean Minister of Manpower Josephine Teo said on March 20 that job vacancies in the city-state are expected to fall further this year given global uncertainties and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Teo said the focus must be to help as many people as possible stay in their current jobs, which is similar to the approach to handling public health crisis - keep most people away from hospitals, so healthcare workers have the capacity to focus on treating those who have more serious conditions.

This is also why the Stabilisation and Support Package worth 4 billion SGD (nearly 2.76 billion USD) announced earlier this year had a strong focus on saving jobs and protecting workers, he added.

According to the job report announced by the Ministry of Manpower on March 20, about 42 percent of the vacancies in 2019 were newly-created positions as a result of business formation and expansion.

Job opportunities are mainly in information technology, healthcare, business development and sales, it added.

There is demand for software, web and multimedia developers and systems analysts, as well as commercial and marketing sales executives, business development managers, nurses and healthcare assistants, the report said./.

VNA