PRESTIGIO at INNOVATION PLACE Mandai Estate For Sale

PRESTIGIO at INNOVATION PLACE  Mandai Estate

FREEHOLD INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT

Innovation Place is a premier freehold development comprising of 4 towers. Designed for clean and light industries, the 7 storey development has an office-like facade to cater for businesses who require a good corporate image.

Strategically located within the Mandai Estate, Innovation Place is linked to the city and Changi Airport by a network fo road and expressways such as the KJE and BKE. Being near to bus services and MRT stations also provides a conveneint means of tranport for workers.

FEATURES

• Unit size from 1,335 sq ft
• Self-contained units with attached toilets
• Ample loading/unloading facilities
• Freehold

AMENITIES

• Easy access to KJE and BKE
• Near Kranji & Marsiling MRT stations
• Cafeteria at Tower 2
• Walking distance to bus-stops

This is the freehold properties and have more than 200 parking lots .

1) Along the Mandai Road toward the end you will see a small Shell Station and Mandai Logistics, turn left and about 100m you will turn left to Mandai Estate.

Icon: ZOO & Honda Showroom

1) You can come by Upper Bukit Timah Road, Woodlands Road then make a U turn and turn left to Mandai Estate.

Icon: Bukit Batok Nature Park & Yew Tee Primary School

We can offer two floors levels for your requirements.

One floor approx 18,063 sq ft of 12 units.
Buy Sell Rent Invest In Singapore

MINDY YONG

( +65 ) 91002985

mindy@mindyyong.com ( email me )

Singapore PropNex expands into auction, management

Singapore PropNex expands into auction, management

It’ll focus on private homes, commercial realty for auction
By UMA SHANKARI

REAL estate firm PropNex is adding auction and management consultancy services to its repertoire in a bid to diversify its revenue stream, it said yesterday.
Mr Ismail: PropNex has 38% market share in the public housing market, and 33% of the private home secondary market 
PropNex’s auction division, set up three months ago, will conduct its first auction in September. The firm will focus on private homes and commercial properties, said PropNex chief executive Mohamed Ismail.

And to provide a comprehensive suite of real estate services to its clients, PropNex will begin providing management services.

The firm bought Oracle Property Consultants Pte Ltd two months ago and set up its own unit to address the growing demand for professional property management services. Some properties in PropNex’s portfolio include The Ladyhill and 1 Moulmein Rise.

The firm currently earns more than 80 per cent of its income from brokering residential sales. According to Mr Ismail, PropNex has 38 per cent market share in the public housing market, as well as 33 per cent of the private home secondary market.

The other 20 per cent of the revenue comes from the firm’s commercial, investments and project marketing divisions.

But in three years’ time, Mr Ismail hopes that brokering residential deals will account for just 50 per cent of revenue as the firm grows its other business segments, including the new auction and management divisions.

PropNex saw its revenue grow to $28 million in Q2 2008, from $24 million a year ago. For the whole of 2007, revenue came to $108 million, up from $60 million in 2006.

The firm made news recently when it announced that it was firing about 2,800 agents who have been with the firm for over a year, but did not record a single transaction.

The move, said Mr Ismail, was part of PropNex’s attempts to clean up a largely unregulated industry.

Yesterday, PropNex also unveiled several other new initiatives to boost self-regulation.

Among other measures, all PropNex agents will now have to sign up for compulsory professional indemnity insurance and new agents will have to take a proficiency test.

Source : Business Times - 01 Aug 2008

Singapore Property - Buy, Sell, Rent, Invest

Mindy Yong

(+65)91002985

mindy@mindyyong.com

Singapore PropNex takes new measures to raise benchmark for agents

Singapore PropNex takes new measures to raise benchmark for agents
 
By Jessica Cheam 
 
PROPERTY agency PropNex has unveiled a range of initiatives aimed at improving the quality of its agents.
The measures range from ensuring that agents are properly insured to proficiency tests covering subject like ethics and HDB regulations.

PropNex chief executive Mohamed Ismail said the new benchmark could result in 500 below-par agents being sacked by the end of the year.

This will be in addition to its drastic axing of 2,800 inactive agents last week.

‘It’s no longer a numbers game,’ said Mr Ismail yesterday. ‘We’re focusing on quality rather than quantity. We want to help move the industry towards professionalism.’

PropNex’s actions follow a spike in consumer complaints about estate agents which has resulted in the profession being labelled a ‘cowboy industry’.

Consumers lodged 1,113 complaints about the property industry last year, up from 991 in 2006 and 672 the year before.

The PropNex measures include a new in-house practising certificate, compulsory for all agents operating under the firm’s name.

Agents must also take out professional indemnity insurance that protects them against the cost of lawsuits and offers consumers compensation when agents mess up. New entrants and inactive agents must also pass a new proficiency test - in the form of a multiple-choice exam - that will cover subjects like code of conduct and ethics, the HDB and private property markets.

PropNex’s move is the latest in a series of industry initiatives aimed at raising the bar for agents.

The Institute of Estate Agents (IEA) launched a new practising certificate for members last year. The IEA represents about 1,600 agents and aims to act for the entire industry eventually.

There is also a three-year-old Singapore Accredited Estate Agencies scheme, which conducts the original Common Examination for House Agents (Ceha).

A scaled-down version of the Ceha was launched recently, backed by the newly formed Association of Singapore Estate Agencies. This aims to rally bosses to raise standards.

Industry players say there are just too many schemes and none is compulsory.

Agency boss Albert Lu of C&H Realty said the certificates ‘won’t make a difference if an agent is intent on illegal activities’.

The solution is to have a central body that functions like the Law Society with the power to discipline members. ‘Rogue agents can then be fined or suspended; it solves a lot of problems in the industry,’ said Mr Lu.

ERA Realty and HSR Property Group say they already have in place high standards for their agents.

ERA has about 2,800 agents, all of whom must go through a training regime. It also terminates about 500 inactive agents a year.

Neither ERA nor HSR requires agents to have indemnity insurance.

There are an estimated 30,000 agents in the market - all unregulated. The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore vets only estate agencies, but not individual agents

Source : Straits Times - 01 Aug 2008

Singapore Property - Buy, Sell, Rent, Invest

Mindy Yong

(+65)91002985

mindy@mindyyong.com

Streetdirectory.com back into business

Streetdirectory.com back into business 

Online map website relaunched with new owner and maps created from scratch

By Irene Tham 
 
STREETDIRECTORY.COM is back online.
The website, whose street maps were found by a court to have violated the copyright of the Singapore Land Authority (SLA), was taken offline in late March but is being relaunched today.

Two things are new about it: The site has new maps, created from scratch over the past nine months, and a new owner.

JobsDB, Asia’s largest online recruitment firm based in Hong Kong, bought the streetdirectory. com Web address and its assets from Singapore-based Virtual Map in the fourth quarter of last year for an undisclosed sum.

The acquisition was kept under wraps until yesterday.

Mr Samuel Sung, chairman of JobsDB, told The Straits Times: ‘Our online recruitment and classified ads businesses need maps. And streetdirectory.com is a good domain name to own.’

The revamped site offers users the conveniences of its predecessor, such as location search by postal code, building and street names.

But the site now also allows map users to pan across a particular neighbourhood by holding down and dragging the mouse.

Users will also be able to look for jobs based on location, since the online street directory has been integrated with JobsDB’s recruitment engine.

A new company, called Streetdirectory, was recently incorporated here to run the online map business spanning three countries.

The outfit has about 70 people, including land surveyors and cartographers who chart the landmarks, buildings and roads here and in Malaysia and Indonesia.

Mr Sung, asked why he chose to build the maps from scratch when he could buy them from other providers, said: ‘We’re starting on a clean slate. No one can question our maps. We own them.’

More than 10 senior managers from Virtual Map have joined the new entity, including former Virtual Map managing director Firdhaus Akber, now the managing editor at Streetdirectory.

Virtual Map is still awaiting judgment from the Court of Appeal, Singapore’s highest court, on its application to file an appeal against an earlier High Court decision.

Meanwhile, SLA has applied to strike out Virtual Map’s notice of appeal.

The problem between the two former business partners began in 2004, when SLA filed a suit against Virtual Map for using its copyrighted materials after it no longer had the permission to do so.

SLA won the case in a district court. Virtual Map then appealed to the High Court against the decision but was turned down.

When the High Court ordered Virtual Map to take down the maps that infringed SLA’s copyright in March, the map company went to the Court of Appeal, the judgment of which is pending.

Whatever the Court of Appeal decides, Mr Akber said, Virtual Map will ‘fulfil its obligations to SLA and the lawyers’.

‘We’re not going to run away,’ he said.

At its peak, Virtual Map had about 500 corporate customers in Asia, for whom it customised maps used, for example, on company websites and brochures.

Today, that customer base has under 100 names, said Mr Akber, who expressed hope that customers would recontract with Streetdirectory.

Virtual Map will remain open till the end of this year to service existing contracts. Until then, it will resell Streetdirectory’s new maps to these customers.
 
Source : Straits Times - 01 Aug 2008

Singapore Property - Buy, Sell, Rent, Invest

Mindy Yong

(+65)91002985

mindy@mindyyong.com

Singapore Flyer passes 1-million mark in tickets, eyes 2.5m goal

Singapore Flyer passes 1-million mark in tickets, eyes 2.5m goal 

By Judith Tan 
FLYING HIGH: The Singapore Flyer has sold one million tickets - just five months after it opened its doors for business. — ST PHOTO: TERENCE TAN
 
THE Singapore Flyer has crossed the one-million mark in ticket sales - just five months after the $240 million attraction opened for business.
Nearly half the tickets sold were bought by tourists. The rest went mainly to local grassroots organisations, schools and corporate groups.

Last month’s ticket sales were 20 per cent more than in June, said chairman of the Flyer, Mr Florian Bollen.

‘At this rate, I am confident that we can achieve our target of 2.5 million visitors in its first year of operation,’ he added.

To give visitors a reason to return, the 165m-tall observation wheel has changed the direction in which it turns.

Previously, it was moving away from the financial centre towards the east. But since Monday, it has been moving towards the financial district.

‘Fengshui plays a part here. It bodes well to move towards the money centre,’ Mr Bollen said, laughing.

He was speaking to reporters yesterday at the opening of a new visitors’ centre at the Flyer.

Jointly organised by the National Association of Travel Agents Singapore (Natas) and the Association of Singapore Attractions, the centre will provide visitors with hotel bookings, flight information and tickets to tourist attractions.

It is the second such centre to open here. The first, in Orchard Road, undergoes a two-month renovation from today.

While visitor numbers are on target, shops and restaurants around the Flyer have said they are losing money because most people head straight for the ride and skip their businesses.

Mr Bollen said locating the visitors’ centre on the ground level ‘will help bring visitors to the grounds’.

‘We are working with tenants on ideas to make the Flyer a whole shopping and dining experience as well,’ he said.

Mr Robert Khoo, CEO of Natas, said that when the integrated resort is completed, business will be better. ‘I truly believe a surge in tourist numbers will definitely come.’

Source : Straits Times - 01 Aug 2008

Singapore Property - Buy, Sell, Rent, Invest

Mindy Yong

(+65)91002985

mindy@mindyyong.com

08-08-08 China couples love it, but not Singaporeans

08-08-08 China couples love it, but not Singaporeans 

Not many locals rushing to tie the knot on that date, which falls during the Hungry Ghost month, as superstition prevails

By Theresa Tan & Tessa Wong 
WE’RE GOING AHEAD: Chinese couple Zhang Hong Jun and Wang Nan believe the date is auspicious and will be using the occasion to celebrate their wedding and the start of the Olympic Games in China. — ST PHOTO: DESMOND LIM
 
AS FAR as auspicious dates go, few can beat Aug 8, 2008.
But there is no rush to get married on that day, compared to previous auspicious dates.

Just 254 couples will be solemnising their marriages next Friday. To be sure, the number is three times higher than that for a normal weekday, but it is well below what other favourite dates have seen.

For example, 777 couples tied the knot on July 7 last year. And Valentine’s Day in 1995 - which coincided with the 15th day of the Chinese New Year - saw 1,082 marriages.

Hotels have reported slow bookings for wedding dinners this Aug 8. But why are couples not rushing to wed on Aug 8, 2008, given the Chinese love for the number eight, which sounds like ‘prosper’ in Mandarin?

It is because the date falls during the Hungry Ghost month, say geomancers and hotels.

Some Chinese believe the Hungry Ghost Festival is an unlucky period to do almost anything, from buying a house to starting a business. It is the time when ghosts are supposedly freed from the netherworld and allowed to roam the earth.

‘They believe that if you have a wedding celebration, all these loitering spirits will attend it,’ said Ms Adelina Pang, chief executive of Adelina Pang Fengshui Consultancy.

The situation in China, however, is the exact opposite. Thousands of lovebirds there are rushing to get married. In Beijing alone, at least 8,000 couples have already booked the date for their marriage registration.

Then there is the mother of all 080808 events - the opening of the Olympic Games in Beijing, which will kick off on Aug 8 at 8.08pm.

The Chinese, it seems, do not buy into the superstitions surrounding the Hungry Ghost Festival as strongly as Singaporeans do.

‘People in China just think such beliefs are backward,’ said Mr Du Zhi Qiang, president of the Tian Fu Club, a social group for new immigrants from China.

Take postgraduate Wang Nan, 27. She and her husband-to-be consulted an almanac which gave the date the thumbs-up.

‘It is the start of the Olympics and Aug 8, 2008 is such a memorable date,’ said Miss Wang, who hails from China, but now lives in Singapore.

‘Most of our friends are from China, so we hope to use the occasion to celebrate our wedding and the start of the Olympic Games.’

Miss Wang and her partner, engineer Zhang Hong Jun, 30 - who also hails from China - plan to solemnise their marriage at 8.08pm on that day.

They will set up a TV screen at the Orchard Hotel ballroom - where they are marking the occasion - so their guests can catch the Olympics opening ceremony.

Some Singaporeans are also thumbing their noses at superstition and going ahead with their wedding on that once-in-a-lifetime date.

Music teacher Tay Jun Ngiap, 36, and pharmacist Chan Hsin Chih, 29, decided to overrule protests from older relatives who are worried about ‘uninvited guests’.

‘We are atheists and not very pantang,’ said Mr Tay, using the Malay word for ’superstitious’.

After Aug 8, hotels are circling another date on the calendar this year: Sept 14. This date might not have quite the ring of the former, but it is considered extremely auspicious because it falls on a ‘lucky’ day - the 15th day of the eighth month in the Lunar calendar.

The Fairmont, for example, is fully booked on the date, and will be hosting eight wedding celebrations. The date is so popular that the hotel has had to turn away some couples.
 

Source : Straits Times - 01 Aug 2008

Singapore Property - Buy, Sell, Rent, Invest

Mindy Yong

(+65)91002985

mindy@mindyyong.com

Singapore Building boom set to create record number of jobs

Singapore Building boom set to create record number of jobs
 
But analysts say this will bring little cheer to local job-seekers as they tend to shun sector

By Goh Chin Lian 
POWERING AHEAD: Latest figures from the Manpower Ministry show construction adding 36, 600 jobs in the first half of this year, more than double that a year ago. — ST PHOTO: JOYCE FANG
 
THE number of jobs created this year could hit a record high, said analysts.
But this peak hinges on the construction industry continuing to power ahead, said economist Song Seng Wun of CIMB-GK Research.

He foresees the economy creating around 280,000 jobs this year, beating last year’s record 236,600.

However, the continuing boom in the construction industry will bring little cheer to local job-seekers. This is because they tend to shun construction jobs.

As of December 2006, foreigners took up three in five construction jobs. The figure is likely to be even higher now as the doors have since opened wider to foreigners.

Latest figures from the Manpower Ministry show construction adding 36,600 jobs in the first half of this year, more than double that a year ago.
However, in the two other major sectors - manufacturing and services - the picture is less bright.

Manufacturing jobs grew by 10,200 from April to June, down from 11,800 jobs in the first quarter, said the ministry’s report yesterday on employment in the second quarter.

Services added 37,600 jobs, down from 46,500 in the earlier three months.

The downtrend is expected to continue, as figures released by the Economic Development Board and the Department of Statistics yesterday showed that employers in the two sectors are cautious about businesss prospects and hiring for the second half of this year.

Analysts attribute this to uncertainty about the global economy.

Higher inflation also deters them from hiring and adding to labour cost, said Singapore Manual and Mercantile Workers’ Union assistant secretary-general Joseph Chua.

Responses from 70 manufacturers to a Singapore Manufacturers’ Federation survey support this view.

Eight in 10 expect business to drop this quarter, and about as many expect no change in employment levels. Their businesses include electronics, and metal and machinery.

Federation spokesman Dennis Ng said: ‘Everybody’s cautious because of the inflationary cost of raw materials and high freight rates.’

On services, recruiting firms say hiring in banking and finance has dropped by some 30 per cent this year. Many are set to scale back expansion plans this quarter, a report by recruitment firm Hudson found.

As hiring in manufacturing and services slows down, the question is whether resident unemployment, which has been creeping up over the past six months, will worsen.

Labour economist Park Cheolsung said: ‘We may see an upward trend because the global economic outlook is not very good at this moment.’

Source : Straits Times - 01 Aug 2008

Singapore Property - Buy, Sell, Rent, Invest

Mindy Yong

(+65)91002985

mindy@mindyyong.com

Singapore Population grows to 4.59 million

Singapore Population grows to 4.59 million 

SINGAPORE’S population now stands at 4.59 million.
It grew by almost 200,000 between 2006 and last year, with foreigners accounting for the bulk of the increase.

The number of foreigners - professionals, workers, students and their family members - rose 14.9 per cent over 2006 to hit 1,005,500 in June last year.

It was the first time the population of foreigners here has crossed the one-million mark.

The population of Singaporeans and permanent residents also rose, to about 3.58 million, up from 3.52 million in 2006.

The figures were given in the Yearbook of Statistics 2008, released yesterday.

Women outnumber men slightly - 1.80 million to 1.77 million.

The statistics also showed a marginal increase in the number of births and marriages.

The number of births last year went up by over 1,100 to 39,490.

The number of marriages was up 260 from 2006.

The 23,966 marriages registered were the highest number in five years.

TAN WEI
 
Source : Straits Times - 01 Aug 2008

Singapore Property - Buy, Sell, Rent, Invest

Mindy Yong

(+65)91002985

mindy@mindyyong.com

It’s Mission Possible for Singapore SAF overseas

It’s Mission Possible for Singapore SAF overseas
 
By Teh Joo Lin 
BUILDING BONDS: Lt-Col James Tan (left) and Cpt Quek Chee Tiong with an Afghan at a site survey in the province of Bamiyan. The SAF team is supervising the building of a health training centre there.
FOR a team of Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) servicemen on a mission in the Gulf in April, the days were about baking in the 50 deg C desert heat and being buffeted by sandstorms while boarding their KC-135 aerial refuelling tanker.
The 36-man team worked 12-hour days, refuelling the planes of coalition forces while travelling at speeds of more than 500kmh aloft, with an ‘umbilical cord’ of fuel going from their plane to aircraft engaged in UN-sanctioned operations.

Recalling those three months, pilot Ashley Peterson said: ‘I had to get the aircraft to where it was supposed to be, on time, every time… It was as real as it got. We were no longer in a training environment.’

Facing a small but very real risk of being shot at by hostile forces on the ground, the Singapore detachment clocked 350 hours there before coming home two weeks ago.

They joined a growing list of some 2,000 servicemen who have been deployed in missions overseas, including multinational reconstruction efforts in war-torn Iraq and Afghanistan and various other peace-support operations sanctioned by the United Nations.

About 35 missions have taken place since the first one in 1989, when the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) sent 14 officers, joined by police and civil servants, to Namibia as election supervisors.

A VOLATILE REGION
‘Taleban fighters roam in small groups across the porous landscape dominated by towering mountain ranges, only to congregate for ‘hit and run’ attacks before dispersing into the…terrain.’ - ASSOCIATE RESEARCH FELLOW SAMUEL CHAN of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, on Oruzgan, a province south-west of the Afghan Kabul, which is where 40 medical and nursing officers of the SAF will be deployed next
 
Over the years, SAF troops have helped monitor elections in South Africa, built bridges in Afghanistan’s Bamiyan province to help villagers truck potatoes to the market, as well as run dental checks for the villagers in the mountainous region.

Last year, a navy landing ship tank also sailed to the Northern Arabian Gulf, where it undertook patrol and boarding operations; protected the waters around key oil terminals; and gave logistics support to coalition vessels and helicopters.

Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean said in an interview to mark SAF Day a month ago that these deployments enable Singapore to fulfil its role as a responsible member of the global community.

‘The SAF’s contribution to international operations is a key element of that,’ he said, adding that the operations in Iraq and Afghanistan were part of ‘the larger effort’ to rebuild and stabilise the two countries.

These missions also give the SAF valuable operational experience, said defence analyst Bernard Loo.

‘It’s a chance for the soldier to test himself and experience something he might otherwise have no opportunity to.’

SAF personnel often find themselves applying what they have learnt in tense situations, though they are not at the front line.

Dr Loo believes that a deployment of combat troops is not likely to happen anytime soon. He said: ‘I seriously doubt we will consciously send anyone into a front-line situation. I suspect this image of body bags coming home…is probably a line that cannot be crossed yet.’

The SAF deployments overseas have not seen casualties so far, but the risks they face are very real.

Said Mr Teo in his SAF Day interview: ‘It’d not be honest for me to say the risks are zero…but we make sure that we train our people well, we prepare them well and we equip them well.’

In an interview from Bamiyan province, Lieutenant-Colonel James Tan, who is leading a team supervising the building of a regional health training centre there, said that the team had prepared for the mission by being schooled in Afghan culture and the operating environment.

The soldiers also trained with the New Zealand Provincial Reconstruction Team, with which they are deployed.

‘Much of the training was focused on honing our force protection skills and physical fitness,’ said Lt-Col Tan, adding that the team had to be mindful of threats from insurgents ‘at all times’.

All ground knowledge gleaned so far will come in handy when the SAF crosses another milestone in its overseas deployments later this year.

In what could be one of its riskiest operations to date, about 40 medical and nursing officers, divided into two three-month rotations, will be sent into Oruzgan, a province south-west of the Afghan capital of Kabul.

They will provide primary health-care and ward facilities in support of a medical facility run by Dutch and Australian forces.

Unlike Bamiyan, Oruzgan has been described as a ‘restive’ and ‘volatile’ region in a commentary by associate research fellow Samuel Chan of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

Both the Dutch and the Australians have lost personnel there. Last month, an Australian army signaller was killed in a roadside bomb blast in the area.

Mr Chan wrote of the region: ‘Taleban fighters roam in small groups across the porous landscape dominated by towering mountain ranges, only to congregate for ‘hit and run’ attacks before dispersing into the…terrain.’

He sees the operation there as possibly the SAF’s most dangerous overseas mission since its personnel were sent to Afghanistan in 1997.

What Lieutenant-Colonel Lo Yong Poo had to go through as a UN military adviser in Afghanistan that year is now the stuff of legend in the SAF.

On a number of occasions, fierce exchanges of rocket and artillery fire took place during his meetings with local commanders.

Days after he evacuated several UN staff from a remote village, a faction there announced that it wanted his head.

The commando officer hid in a bunker for more than two weeks - with constant artillery shelling and bombing over his head - until a helicopter got him out.

The much-decorated Lo, who retired from the SAF as a Colonel, was to say later: ‘My appreciation of our nation’s strengths were strengthened through these experiences.’

Source : Straits Times - 01 Aug 2008

Singapore Property - Buy, Sell, Rent, Invest

Mindy Yong

(+65)91002985

mindy@mindyyong.com

Singapore Job market turns less rosy

Singapore Job market turns less rosy 

GROWTH PACE SLOWS, UNEMPLOYMENT RATE UP

By Lee Siew Hua, Senior Political Correspondent
 
SINGAPOREANS seeking jobs in the months ahead face the prospect of a slowing labour market.

The reason: the shrinking pool of new jobs in two sectors, manufacturing and services.

It would have been worse if not for the golden performance of the construction sector, judging from new figures from the Manpower Ministry.

These show that employment in the sector increased by 22,100 jobs in the second quarter this year. This is double the 10,900 new construction jobs added in the same quarter last year.

However, the overall job market is less buoyant.

‘Outside of construction, employment growth has moderated from the previous quarter,’ said the ministry yesterday when it released the second quarter’s job data.
New jobs rose by 70,600, which it notes is ’slightly lower’ than the 73,200 in the first three months of this year.

Analysts see this shift as signalling a possible slowdown in jobs, with employers now more cautious about hiring.

‘We feel a bit more caution in the air,’ said regional economist Song Seng Wun of CIMB-GK Research.

Economist Kit Wei Zheng, from financial services giant Citigroup, suspects that fresh graduates intent on a job in banking and finance could be disappointed.

‘Anecdotally, I hear that fresh grads may find it hard to get jobs in the financial sector,’ he said.

Further underlining the sober outlook is the rise in unemployment, for the second quarter in a row.

It climbed from 1.7 per cent in December to 2 per cent in March, and went up again to 2.3 per cent in June.

However, recruiters like Ms Annie Yap, chief executive of The GMP Group, felt that joblessness will be less of an issue in a year or more if Singaporeans can ‘change their mindset’.

They need to be open to working in service-oriented jobs when the integrated resorts open, she said.

The less-rosy job market is linked to Singapore’s slowing economy. Latest official figures show it grew at just 1.9 per cent year-on-year in the second quarter.

This is well down from the first-quarter expansion of 6.9 per cent.

The subject of jobs was also addressed by labour chief Lim Swee Say yesterday when he met reporters to elaborate on his National Day message, given earlier in the day.

Employers are still hungry for workers, he said, pointing out that the labour market is still ‘tight’.

Still, economic uncertainties were also on his mind.

In his speech, he indicated that workers can do their bit to temper any slowdown.

They can scale down any expectations that salaries should keep pace fully with inflation.

If wages are pushed up to ‘fully offset inflation’ this year, workers may end up paying ever-higher prices.

‘We must continue to link built-in wage increases to productivity gains and help our people through various non-wage measures,’ he said.

This will prevent a ‘wage-price spiral’, said the NTUC secretary-general.

Unionists supported his call. Mr Ameer Hamzah, general secretary for the Singapore Port Workers’ Union, said gunning for wages to match inflation will ‘kill off businesses’. His union negotiated for a 3 per cent annual increment to be built into salaries - the same as last year.

Labour economists Shandre Thangavelu and Hui Weng Tat highlighted the plight of workers at the lowest end of the wage scale.

Prof Hui argued that more than one-off inflation payments, ‘what is needed is permanent wage increases’ for them to fully offset inflation.

Last week, the Monetary Authority of Singapore raised its full-year inflation forecast by one percentage point to between 6 per cent and 7 per cent.

For Mr Lim, stagflation is the bigger spectre.

‘Let us stay away from the threshold of stagflation as far as possible,’ he said. ‘To reverse the momentum will be too late.’

 CONFRONT STAGFLATION
‘This time last year, we celebrated National Day at a time when Asia was enjoying the best of both worlds - good economic growth and low inflation.
This year, the mood in Asia and indeed, worldwide, has changed.

The world economy is growing slower - from 4.9 per cent last year down to 3.5 per cent or less this year. At the same time, global inflation is on the rise…

The global economy may be heading for the worst of both worlds - low growth combined with high inflation; otherwise known as stagflation…

Let us confront this challenge of global stagflation as one competitive economy, and one inclusive society.’ - MR LIM SWEE SAY, the NTUC secretary-general, in his National Day message

Source : Straits Times - 01 Aug 2008

Singapore Property - Buy, Sell, Rent, Invest

Mindy Yong

(+65)91002985

mindy@mindyyong.com