Trade-dependent Singapore has posted slower economic growth this year amid the fall-out from the U.S.-China trade war, although the government forecasts a recovery in 2020. At present, inflation remains less than 0.5% on-year, far below the salary increases projected in the Mercer survey. Like a number of its Asian counterparts, the city-state’s workforce is aging.
“Talent pools are shrinking,” according to Mercer, which said that companies may struggle to keep workers even after offering more compensation.
There needs to be a shift toward “more holistic talent strategies that acknowledge pay as only one means of differentiation and motivation,” Kulapalee Tobing, career products leader, Singapore, said in a statement.
Income growth in Singapore has slowed this year as the labor market softened, according to preliminary data last week. The real median income of full-time employed residents weakened to 2.2% in June 2019 from 4.4% in the same period last year, the Ministry of Manpower said.
