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Middle-aged PMEBs Most Affected By Layoffs

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Middle-aged PMETs are seen by firms as too costly to retain and too old to hire as indicated by the latest Ministry of Manpower (MOM) labour market report.

A total of 15,580 workers were laid off in 2015, the highest since the 2009 global financial crisis, with middle-aged professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) being the hardest hit, as they were deemed too costly and too old to hire by firms. Compounding to the problem is the fact that this group is less likely than other resident workers to be in employment within six months of being made redundant. In fact, job security and stagnating incomes were the biggest worries among older workers in their late 40s to 50s amid the slowing economy, as indicated by the annual feedback exercise, jointly organised by REACH and the Ministry of Finance (MOF).

According to the MOM figures that were released, of the Singaporeans and permanent residents that were laid off in 2015, 71.1 per cent were PMETs, which is a 20 per cent increase from 2014, when 12,930 were laid off. Another fact to note is that nearly two-thirds of resident workers made redundant last year were of ages 40-years-old and above.

Also, the majority of lay-offs last year were from the services sector, with experts monitoring the overall economic landscape attributing this negative impact to the spillover effect from the slower global economic growth and downturns in manufacturing, oil and gas sectors.

Despite the gloom and doom, unemployment rate remains unchanged at 2.9 per cent for Singaporeans, as for permanent residents however, there’s an increase to 2.8 per cent, a 0.1 per cent difference as compared to 2014. It was also observed that workers who lost their jobs found it more difficult to find a new job last year.

 

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