SINGAPORE, Feb 3 — There were fewer job openings last year as the weakening economy halted five consecutive years of growth, the Ministry of Manpower said in an annual employment report released today (February 3).

Figures showed that the number of unfilled jobs stood at 60,000 positions as of September last year. Job vacancies continued to increase every year from about 36,900 in September 2009 to to 67,400 in September 2014.

Today’s data comes a week after the MOM announced that Singapore saw its worst year-on-year employment growth last year since 2003. Total employment grew an estimated 31,800 — or 0.9 per cent — amidst the gloomy global economic conditions, slower economic growth and the clampdown in foreign manpower supply.

After seasonal adjustments, the ratio of job vacancies to unemployed person also declined for the second consecutive quarter. The September statistics last year saw 116 openings to 100 job seekers, from 121 openings in June and 143 openings in March.

In terms of vacancies, Professionals, Managers, Executives and Technicians (PMETs) remained the most sought after employees, with four in ten of available job openings for positions such as teaching professionals or management executives. Service and sales staff are high up on the list after PMETs, comprising about two out of 10 of the available job openings.

Job openings are also starting to be filled where the proportion of vacancies left open for six months fell to 39 per cent, as compared to 41 per cent a year ago. Workers in the sales and service sectors as well as cleaners remained hard to fill. PMET jobs were quickly snapped up, where only about two in ten PMET openings were left unfilled for long periods.

The MOM said in its press release that “amid softer economic conditions and continued efforts to restructuring towards a more productive and manpower-lean economy”, the number of job vacancies fell. While there are still more job openings to job seekers, the MOM said companies have to do more to make their jobs more attractive and job seekers also have to improve their employability. — TODAY