Kelly Services Reports Good Job Opportunities in 2011

More Opportunities in Financial Services, Manufacturing and Retail sectors

Singapore 26 May, 2011 – Kelly Services, a world leader in workforce solutions, today launched its Singapore Employment Outlook and Salary Guide 2011/12 – A Tool for Workforce Planning, which is the result of a survey of the salary trends among companies in the country.

“We are pleased to present Kelly Services’ Singapore Employment Outlook and Salary Guide 2011/12 – A Tool for Workforce Planning. This Salary Guide offers a compilation of salaries and job titles across a wide range of industries, and is aimed at assisting practitioners in decisions on remuneration packages,” said Ms Melissa Norman, Kelly Services Singapore and Malaysia’s Managing Director.

According to the Kelly Services’ Employment Outlook and Salary Guide 2011/12, employment opportunities in Singapore for 2011 are expected to remain robust with an increased number of opportunities in various sectors, based on supportive external and domestic factors for improved hiring demands within these sectors.

Key findings from the Salary Guide:

• Increased number of opportunities in the banking and finance, manufacturing, engineering, retail, chemicals, info-communications, tourism and hospitality sectors
• Salary increment and benefits offered to skilled workforce, with an average increase of 7 - 10 per cent among non-executive and executive levels.
• Salaries for skilled workforce within the Financial Services, Retail and Services industry registered an 8 - 10 per cent increase in minimum salary
• There was a higher demand for well-rounded candidates who are able to build customer relationship and meet performance expectations.
• Increased demand for talent with specialized skills in areas of sales, marketing and business development, mechanical engineering, administration, human resources and financial services.
• The Human Resources practitioner is expected to play an increasingly strategic role as attracting and retaining talents become a major global issue.
• The pick-up in electronics demand and further capacity expansion in the chemicals segment (from new plant operations and increased petroleum output) should boost Manufacturing growth in the coming quarters.
• Retail, Tourism and Hospitality sectors have seen an increase in demand for talent as well.

The Financial Services and Manufacturing industry in Singapore has gained momentum chalking a year-on-year (YOY) growth of 13.1% for the Manufacturing sector while Financial Services gained 11.3% growth (YOY) with an increase in hiring of talents during the last quarter of 2010 and quarter one of 2011.

“Well rounded candidates who can foster and build customer relationship rather than just simple transactional relationship are in greater demand as these candidate help to build customer loyalty and allow the company to reap greater value over a single customer’s lifetime. This elevates the customer value and increases bottom line in sustaining long-term profitability for an organization,” added Ms Norman.

The survey results as reported in the Kelly Services’ Employment Outlook and Salary Guide 2011/2012 points to an exciting year with higher wages from a robust job market. With a healthy 8.3 per cent Q1 growth and a forecasted GDP growth for 2011 raised to 5-7 per cent based on the high base of 2010, the outlook for Financial Services is upbeat.  * Singapore will create more jobs in Financial Services during the next 12 months than any other city and has rapidly established itself as the destination of choice for City firms looking to expand their business in Asia. Singapore’s hedge-fund industry grew S$59 billion ($48 billion) at the end of 2009, from about $10 billion in 2005.
^{*Bloomberg.com news on 22 May 2011-Singapore to create most bank jobs next year.} 

“In their effort to attract and retain the best talent in this robust employment climate, employers have turned to Kelly Services for advice and information on current salary trends in order to benchmark and offer competitive remuneration packages.  We hope the Singapore Employment Outlook and Salary Guide 2011/12 – A Tool for Workforce Planning  will prove useful to our clients,” said Ms Norman.

“The human resources practitioner’s top priority should be staff retention, succession planning, as well as leadership and skills development through training and development, to contribute towards achieving a high performance-based business. The global workforce is changing and is challenged by macro-demographics shifts, with employees willing to move to work in another city for a job. This has made ‘talent mobility’ a key focus for most organizations besides salary, remuneration and benefits,” advised Ms Norman.

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About Kelly Services
Kelly Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:  KELYA, KELYB) is a leader in providing workforce solutions.  Kelly® offers a comprehensive array of outsourcing and consulting services as well as world-class staffing on a temporary, temporary-to-hire and direct-hire basis.  Serving clients around the globe, Kelly provides employment to more than 530,000 employees annually.  Revenue in 2010 was $5 billion.  Visit www.kellyservices.com and connect with us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

Media Contact: 

Jeannie Khoo – Marketing Director, Kelly Services Singapore and Malaysia
Tel: +(603) 2070 1878   Fax: +(603) 2070 4360   Mobile: (012) 2640570 

Diana Tay – Marketing Manager, Kelly Services 
Tel: (+65) 6501 4717  Fax: (+65) 6221 1262  Mobile: (+65) 9862 2606