Extremely understaffed services industry in need of almost 54,000 workers

4 out of 5 job vacancies were from this industry.

Staff are hard to come by in the policy-battered services industry. Data released today by the Ministry of Manpower showed that there are around 53,920 job vacancies in the services industry.

This figure accounts for 80% of the 67,400 vacancies recorded across the island in 2014. The number of vacancies climbed 8.9% year-on-year, reflecting the tight labor market.

The MoM stated that the bulk of the vacancies came from community, social & personal services, reflecting the expansion of childcare and pre-schools, healthcare and tertiary institutes.

In addition, the opening of new shopping malls supported robust hiring in wholesale & retail trade, accommodation & food services and administrative & support services. Manufacturing contributed another 13% of the vacancies, while the remaining 5.7% came from construction.