About 79 percent of the 630 Singaporean employers surveyed by the ManPowerGroup for Singapore’s Employment Outlook Survey for Q1 2020, plan to keep their workforce levels steady this year. The first quarter’s Net Employment Outlook is set to increase by nine percent which represents the difference in the percentage of employers expecting to increase and decrease. 

As the job market growth seems positive, here are four job sectors with the strongest outlook for the year: 

Public administration and education 

This sector is expected to see a 22 percent net growth in employment. Public administration refers to individuals who are working in public departments and organizations across different levels of the government. 

While education job roles include curriculums that cover development, coordinating programs or managing ad-hoc tasks such as career placement and providing educational support within schools and training centres. 

Job roles in this sector include: administrative officers, education officers, curriculum planners, teachers, principals, etc. 

Insurance, finance, real estate 

This sector expects to see a net growth of 15 percent with a favorable hiring scenario. This particular sector covers work that is related to banking, investments, credit, management of money, the coverage of loss in exchange of premiums (insurance), and the sale of land and property. 

As digital transformation grips the finance industry as well, increased employment opportunities within financial institutions are likely to be more related to the technology part of the work. 

Examples of jobs in this sector: financial advisor, finance manager, fire safety manager, horticulture manager, etc. 

Mining and construction 

Singapore has been recognized as a mining hub since the last few years on the basis of its location at the crossroads of the metals and minerals supply in the APAC region. 

Other industries that are associated with mining and are crucial for the smooth functioning of the mining activities include the financing of those projects, sales and marketing of commodities such as coal and gold, etc. 

Thus, employers in Singapore expect the net hiring for the mining and construction sector to be about 12 percent. The hiring intent has improved by two and six percentage points compared to year-on-year numbers with this quarter.  

Examples of jobs in this sector include: mining engineer, mechanics, technical officers, construction managers, project planners, site manager, building and construction. 

Transportation and utilities 

The transportation and utilities sector is expected to have the strongest hiring pace two years for Q1 2020. The Net Employment Outlook stands at 12 percent, an improvement of about 18 percentage points compared to the previous quarters. This figure also stands eight percent points higher that what it was a year ago. 

A possible reason for this rise in the hiring could be the North South Corridor that links Amiralty Road West to East Coast Parkway which is a S$3.14 Bn for the 21.5 Km long corridor. 

Another area of job opportunities is the advancement in key energy technologies for the utilities industry as carbon tax was introduced as firms face a stricter regulation to the commitment to meet energy sustainability requirements. 

Utilities technician, facilities engineer, technical officer, transport manager, transport supervisor, are some of the job roles in this sector.