New rules in Singapore to advertise jobs to locals could slow recruitment

International tax advisory firm Von Essen has warned that new rules compelling employers in Singapore to advertise all vacancies to Singapore nationals on a government job site could slow down recruitment for many businesses.

Introduced by Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower under the Fair Consideration Framework and starting August 1st, new rules force employers to advertise all jobs open to applications from foreign workers on the Jobs Bank for 14 days in order for Singaporeans to be fairly considered. If a business uses a recruitment agency, either the business or the agency will have to advertise the role on the Government site.

According to June’s Ministry of Manpower ‘Labour Market Statistical Information,’ the Singapore job market currently has 62,500 vacancies, an 11% increase over the previous quarter. However, job creation appears to be slowing as 28,000 jobs were created in Q1 2014 compared to over 40,000 jobs in the previous quarter.

Nevertheless, Lydia Marref, partner at Von Essen, commented:

“The current high number of vacancies could partly be caused by the incoming rule changes. Employers may be pushing recruitment through as quickly as possible in order to get everything in place ahead of the rule changes.”

The new recruitment rules will not affect the recruitment process of roles with monthly salaries in excess of SG$12k to recognize the fact that many of these roles are filled by headhunters who are not able to advertise the jobs.

In addition, employers with fewer than 25 employees are also exempt from the rule changes.

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