Marketing jobs one of the lowest in demand in SG

Singapore's job market has been recovering since the end of 2020, with job postings surging during January and February this year, according to online job site Indeed. By the end of February, the number of job listings in all categories and occupations is said to be up 19.2% from their level on 1 February 2020, after adjusting for seasonal trends. However, despite the optimistic outlook on recruitment trends in Singapore, marketing was found to be one of the worst performing sector when it comes to job postings.

Indeed found that there was a 3% decrease in job postings for marketing roles in the month of February alone, ranking it the fifth worst performing sector behind hospitality and tourism (22%), childcare (15%), sports (14%), and legal (4.1%).

Marketing jobs continue to be low in demand. According to Indeed's report in 2020, job postings for the marketing sector suffered a 30.5% decline as compared to 2019. This was greater than the average national decline, the job site said.

Meanwhile, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and medical fields are seeing a high surge in jobs, with postings more than tripling for scientific research and more than doubling for pharmacy, nursing and dental roles since the start of the February. Outside of these fields, manufacturing, construction and warehousing are also reporting strong demand for workers. 

“Long-term trends favouring scientific and technological skills have continued during the COVID recovery. These workers are in high demand. We are also seeing the lingering impact of COVID restrictions in hospitality and tourism, which continue to be hampered by a lack of international travel,” Indeed's spokesperson, Callam Pickering, APAC Economist, said. 

Although Indeed did not have details on which marketing functions suffered a decline in demand specifically, a study by Prospect and PublicAffairsAsia published last month showed the PR industry struggling in 2020, as nearly 40% of communications professionals faced a freeze in their salaries, and 10% had to make do with reduced pay. While 6% of in-house respondents saw their salary reduced last year, a significantly higher number (17%) of agency staff suffered pay cuts. When it came to bonuses, 25% of the respondents also revealed they were not going to receive a bonus.

Digital marketing roles, on the other hand, seem to be high in demand in the industry, according to a salary guide by Kelly Services Singapore and SkillsFuture Singapore. According to the report, the industry saw a high demand for campaign managers, digital marketing executives, digital marketing managers, digital marketing specialists, and account managers. Digital marketing also ranked second in the list of top skills sought after in the industry, following sales. Other skills that were found to be high in demand include account management, customer service, data analytics, data management, delivery optimisation, eCommerce campaign management, and social media management. 

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(Photo courtesy: 123RF)

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