This decline was for both PMET and non-PMET vacancies, but the latter registered a sharper decline as employers were able to hire foreign workers to backfill these vacancies, said MOM.
PMET positions made up a growing majority of job vacancies, or 56 per cent, up from 53 per cent in 2021.
This reflects manpower demand for skilled workers from the growth sectors of information & communications, financial & insurance services, professional services and health & social services, said MOM.
WHY IS IT HARD TO HIRE?
While the PMET share of vacancies has yet to recover to pre-pandemic level in 2019, the number of PMET vacancies in 2022 was almost double that in 2019, said MOM.
Technology talents such as software, web & multimedia developers and software & applications managers continued to be highly sought after, as ongoing digitalisation trends have led to sustained demand for technological skills, the ministry added.
Other jobs in demand are commercial & marketing sales executive, teaching & training professional and administration manager.
And while the share of non-PMET job vacancies dipped, the number of these vacancies also increased in 2022. Jobs like waiter, shop sales assistant and cleaner continue to be hard to fill, making up the top five non-PMET roles unfilled.
For PMET roles that were difficult to fill, the main reasons cited by employers were unattractive pay, lack of specialised skills and lack of necessary work experience, particularly for positions requiring specialised, technical knowledge.
For non-PMET positions, employers commonly indicated reasons such as a physically strenuous job nature, and a “non-conductive work environment”.