Singaporeans paint gloomy picture of jobs, prospects
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/sub/...14052,00.html?
Published January 14, 2009
Singaporeans paint gloomy picture of jobs, prospects
By TEH SHI NING
SINGAPOREANS are not optimistic about employment prospects in 2009, according to a survey by TNS and Gallup International.
The Voice of the People end-of-year survey, carried out between October and December last year, found that 78 per cent of 1,000 people polled here expect unemployment to rise this year. And 37 per cent expect it to 'increase a lot'.
Among respondents here who were employed, 30 per cent are concerned they could lose their job this year.
There is also pessimism about finding new employment in the event of losing a job. Seventy-nine per cent of respondents here fear it would take 'too long', compared with 54 per cent of respondents from all 46 countries in the survey.
Only 17 per cent of Singaporeans believe they would be able to land a new job 'fairly quickly', a figure more pessimistic than the worldwide average of 31 per cent.
Singaporeans' pessimism extends beyond the labour market to the general economy too, going by the survey results. Seventy-seven per cent of Singaporeans expect the nation's economic prosperity to decline this year.
On a more personal level, 63 per cent anticipate that 2009 will be worse for them than 2008, compared with the global average of 35 per cent of respondents who feel this way.
According to the Ministry of Manpower, Singapore's seasonally adjusted overall unemployment rate in September 2008 was 2.2 per cent, while the resident unemployment rate was 3.3 per cent. An update on employment is due at the end of this month.
1 in 3 S'poreans expects to lose job: Poll
http://www.straitstimes.com/Singapor...ry_325797.html
January 14, 2009 Wednesday
1 in 3 S'poreans expects to lose job: Poll
SINGAPOREANS are preparing for the worst, with one in three expecting to lose his job during this downturn.
A poll by TNS and Gallup International found that workers' confidence has been dented by the global financial crisis.
Almost eight in 10 Singaporeans believe unemployment will rise this year as the country's economy declines, with gross domestic product expected to be between minus 2 per cent and 1 per cent.
The global poll was conducted between October and December last year, with 45,700 people in 46 countries interviewed.
In Singapore, where 1,000 people were polled, expectations seem bleaker.
Almost two in three Singaporeans say this year will be worse for them than last year, compared with a global average of 35 per cent who feel the same way.
Commenting on the results, Mr Wage Garland, managing director of TNS in Singapore and Hong Kong, said such pessimism follows the bad news and views expressed by leaders and business organisations which are carried in the media.
'Media reports of these types of forecasts, the financial difficulties of several major local retailers, falling property prices and the layoffs already taking place in some companies have made people realise that the global economic turmoil is having an impact on Singapore,' he said.
But what is surprising, he added, is that it has yet to undermine confidence in their own future. Despite the gloomy forecast, seven in 10 working Singaporeans are confident of keeping their jobs, even though most believe more people will be jobless.
But should they lose their jobs, almost eight in 10 Singaporeans fear it would take a long time to find a new one. Compared with people elsewhere, Singaporeans are more pessimistic, with the global figure standing at 54 per cent.
