Elections Propaganda?

From: "Alexx"

A "make-everybody-feel-good" propaganda. Election is comming. Junky minded
Singaporean should remember to vote for the PAP again and later got
themselves screwed and treated like second class or even third class
citizens.

Fri, Jan 22, 2010
my paper

IT'S good news for Singapore workers - 51 per cent of companies here surveyed in the latest Hudson Report said they would be looking to hire.

The quarterly survey of more than 400 executives by the global human-resource consultancy showed that employers are more optimistic, further confirming the rapid recovery in the employment market.

Across all key business sectors, 51 per cent of respondents said they will increase hiring in the first three months of this year - a significant jump from the 34 per cent in the previous quarter.


This is the greatest quarterly rise in expectations since The Hudson Report began in the fourth quarter of 1998. Except for health care and life sciences, all other industries expect positive headcount growth.

The banking and financial- services sector leads the field with the highest expectations, with 69 per cent planning to hire more staff, up from 43 per cent in the last quarter.

In particular, candidates with experience in private banking, corporate finance and commodities trading are especially sought after.

High growth is also expected in the field of information technology and telecommunications, with 60 per cent of respondents expecting to grow headcount in Q1, up from 36 per cent in the previous quarter.

The additional hiring is driven by demand for financial IT specialists, as banks undertake major projects again.

The largest rise in hiring expectations is, however, seen in the media, advertising and public- relations sector.

About 46 per cent of respondents plan to boost their recruitment this quarter - which is more than twice the figure in Q4 last year, which stood at 18 per cent.

This is the only sector where no respondents said they plan to reduce headcount this year.

The 51 per cent of respondents across all sectors who plan to grow headcount this quarter is more than double the corresponding figure of 23 per cent year-on-year.



The growing buoyancy in the job market means that most respondents expect to have to pay higher starting salaries to attract new managerial hires.

Across all sectors, only 8 per cent said they would pay no increment at all, while 42 per cent expect to have to increase starting salaries by more than 10 per cent to recruit the candidates they want.

According to the Hudson survey, most companies - 74 per cent - said they plan to pay discretionary year-end bonuses for last year, and also give out significantly higher payouts this year, particularly for the health-care and life-sciences sector.

More respondents are also very positive about their firms' performance this year.

Across all sectors, 14 per cent anticipate excellent performance - a higher proportion than in the other markets surveyed in Asia.

A further 64 per cent said performances will be good, while only 2 per cent thought it will be poor.

These figures also show that companies are considerably more optimistic than they were last year, when just 3 per cent forecast excellent performance and a further 44 per cent said it would be good.