|
17 April 2006
Singapore
Singapore, April 17, 2006 – Unemployment is a key issue when market economies are flat or declining, but job creation efforts by local governments can definitely ease the impact — and such efforts by the Singapore government have not gone unrecognized! According to a global online survey conducted by ACNielsen, more people in Singapore than in any other country in the world have given the local government a ‘thumbs-up’ for its job creation efforts!
The ACNielsen survey, conducted in November 2005, polled over 23,500 regular Internet users – in 42 markets globally, including 500 in Singapore.
Seven in 10 people surveyed think their government isn’t doing enough to encourage job creation, with Latin Americans topping the list (74%) followed by the Europeans (73%). Nearly two thirds of people in North America and Asia Pacific felt the same. The Polish are the world’s most dissatisfied, with nine in 10 thinking their government isn’t doing enough to create jobs. People in Taiwan, Brazil and Indonesia followed closely at 87, 86 and 85 percent respectively.
At the other end of the scale, nearly half of Singaporeans (43%) were the most convinced of their government’s efforts on the job front, followed by UAE (41%), New Zealand and Malaysia (32%).
“Government initiatives over the years have helped reduce unemployment to levels last seen during the mid-90s. Moreover, despite that unemployment is down to 2.5%, the job re-creation programme is being expanded this year to cover even more sectors and more workers.” commented Mr Ashok Charan, Managing Director of ACNielsen Research Singapore.
Staff loyalty perceived to be less valued by employers!
Around the globe, 58 percent of the individuals surveyed think companies don’t value staff loyalty as much as they did in the past. The most certain of this are more than two thirds of North Americans (70%) and Latin Americans (67%), followed by more than half of consumers in Asia Pacific and Europe. Just over half (54%) of Europeans thought an appreciation of loyalty to be a thing of the past.
At a market level, people in the UK and France (76%), UAE (75%) and Australia (73%) felt most strongly about the lack of value placed on staff loyalty. Singapore ranked sixth in the world and second in Asia Pacific, with over seven in 10 respondents sharing this sentiment, although there were still 15 percent who believe otherwise!
Indonesia (40%) and the Philippines marginally (28%) are the only Asia Pacific markets with the highest number of people still believing in their company’s value for loyalty.
Overall, though, we don’t feel overworked
For those currently employed around the world, over half feel their work hours are just right, led by Europe (56%) and Asia Pacific (54%), where specifically, Finland, Thailand and Indonesia topped the list. Globally, one third thought their work hours were too long, most strongly felt in Latin America (39%).
Singapore tops the Asia Pacific list for having the greatest number of people who thought their current work hours were too long, with almost one in two (49%) people here expressing this gripe.
“The findings reveal the diversity in respondents’ perceptions of their domestic work environment. This also reflects the possibility of significant differences in work culture across professions and across countries,” remarked Mr Charan
It’s worth mentioning that about one-tenth of those in Indonesia and India think that they could work longer hours, and the Russians top the list as the market with most spare time on their hands – with three in 10 having claimed their work hours were not long enough!
While only two percent of Singaporean respondents felt similarly ‘under-worked’, two-fifth (40%) found their work hours ideal.
Back to Top
|
