SINGAPORE: On the whole, job postings have gone down for the fifth consecutive month, according to Indeed, the global search and hiring platform. Nevertheless, postings are still 40 per cent above what they were prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, in large part due to technical roles, especially engineering jobs.
Last month, job postings went down by 0.9 per cent. Callam Pickering, senior economist at Indeed, said that “while job creation is cooling, the overall labour market remains tight”.
Indeed’s May 2025 Hiring Lab Report show that since February, civil engineering job postings have risen by almost 19 per cent, mechanical engineering postings have risen by 14 per cent, industrial engineering postings increased by 6.5 per cent, which HR World Southeast Asia has characterized as “highlighting a robust appetite for infrastructure and industrial expertise.”
Yahoo!News, meanwhile, quoted analysts as attributing the increase to important infrastructure initiatives, including Terminal 5 at Changi Airport.
Childcare (13 per cent), sports (12 per cent), and data analytics (5.6 per cent) are other sectors where job postings are up. Software development job postings also saw a small increase of 0.9 per cent, though it still makes up 11.7 per cent of overall postings, the runner-up among industries, in spite of a year-on-year decrease.
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Interestingly, there has been a drop in the overall number of job postings in the healthcare industry. Pharmacy has seen the highest decrease at 45 per cent, while those for physicians and surgeons fell by 19 per cent, which is the same number for veterinary job postings.
Singapore’s resident unemployment rate for April was at 2.8 per cent, according to data from the Ministry of Manpower (MOM).
Mr Pickering added that due to geopolitical tensions and economic uncertainties, future hiring will keep facing challenges. These issues have caused businesses to stay cautious when it comes to hiring more workers. Skilled professionals, however, continue to stay in demand in Singapore.
In April, the city-state saw a 2.7 per cent decrease in job postings. This marked a 16.6 per cent decrease year-on-year, and was their lowest level since May 2021.
“Low unemployment and persistent skill shortages suggest underlying strength—but many businesses are holding their breath in a world clouded by economic and geopolitical uncertainty,” Mr Pickering said at the time. /TISG
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