SINGAPORE : Children, reportedly aged about 10 to 14 years old, have been spotted selling ice cream in housing estates across Singapore.

Strolling their carts around estates, they approached people or knocked on doors asking residents to buy ice cream for around S$10.

Yvonne Schelkis said she was on the way home from work when she was approached by a group of three boys about six months ago.
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SINGAPORE : Teachers have welcomed the Education Ministry’s announcement of better pay and career development for them.

Some also say it is a timely move.

The Singapore Teachers’ Union says it is happy the government has taken a holistic approach towards making the teaching profession more attractive.

In a statement, it says, given the robust economic growth and stiff competition for talent, the overall remuneration package for teachers must stay competitive and keep pace with the private sector.

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SINGAPORE: The Ministry of Education (MOE) announced at the Principals’ Appointment Ceremony Friday that principals and teachers will get higher pay packages starting April 2008.

Under a new initiative called Grow 2.0, the annual package of good performing teachers will be increased by up to 12%, while that for better performers will be increased by up to 18%.

Costing the government S$380 million per year, this new pay and career package is aimed at making the teaching profession more attractive.

Under the new scheme, teachers will receive a one-off salary increment of up to four per cent.

They will also be placed on a salary range system with merit increments that are based on one’s performance, potential and market wage movements. This will replace the current salary scale system with fixed annual increments.

Under the new initiative, there will be higher performance bonuses and sharper differentiation in payouts based on performance. Teachers will receive performance bonuses ranging from one month to 2.25 months.
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SINGAPORE : Half of Singapore’s workforce are not willing to work beyond the age of 60, according to a survey conducted by The Nielsen Company.

The survey showed that the 550 working adults polled had different ideas about what the ideal retirement age should be.

But only 5% said they wish to remain in the workforce till they’re 65.

10% said they would never want to retire while 36% said they would like to retire by 55.

Another interesting find from the survey was that 54% of the respondents said they feel that they need over S$1 million to retire comfortably.
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SINGAPORE: Companies must always stick to the tenet of productivity leading wage increases – a point which the National Wages Council (NWC) has always emphasised when issuing their annual wage guidelines.

Singapore’s labour market this year is set to end on a positive note and employers are optimistic about the new year.

Stephen Lee, president of the Singapore National Employers Federation, said: “We feel job creation will continue to be strong because of the few mega projects and they are all service projects and these service projects need a large number of service people. Our challenge is really to churn out enough quality service people to fill these jobs.”

Nonetheless, the labour movement has urged Singaporeans to be prepared for any eventuality.

Heng Chee How, deputy secretary-general of NTUC, said: “We must always look at the boom as a window of opportunity during which we prepare ourselves for the next downturn in the economy, not that we wish for one, but for sure it will come. The question is what must be done.”
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SINGAPORE : Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong said the latest civil service pay hike is aimed at retaining and attracting younger officers.

He said the Prime Minister and others Ministers were concerned about the timing of this salary hike, given the state of rising inflation in Singapore.

Even though the hike was already announced in Parliament in April, the latest announcement gave specifics to the annual wage increases for the top brass.

SM Goh said: “PM discussed this. I mean he wanted my view. So I said proceed, it’s not going to be popular, you’re not going to win votes with this. But proceed.” Click Here to Continue Reading »

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SINGAPORE : Total employment in Singapore expanded by 58,600 new jobs in the third quarter, up substantially from the increase of 43,000 a year ago, the Ministry of Manpower said in a statement on Friday.

The July-to-September figure also marks an upward revision from an earlier estimate of 57,600 jobs.

Seasonally adjusted unemployment fell to 1.7 percent at the end of September from 2.3 percent three months earlier. Similarly, the resident unemployment rate fell to 2.3 percent from 3.1 percent at the end of June.

Both unemployment rates are the lowest recorded in almost a decade, having improved to pre-Asian crisis levels.

Wage growth moderated slightly in the third quarter, with earnings rising 6.9 percent from the same quarter a year earlier after increasing 8.5 percent in the second quarter.

However, overall labour productivity was flat in the third quarter, following a marginal 0.4 percent gain in the preceding quarter. This led to an increase in the overall unit labour cost by 5.9 percent, slightly lower than the 6.3 percent growth in the previous quarter.

In summary, the Ministry said the labour market turned in another quarter of strong performance.

Robust job creation and slower growth in resident manpower supply led to a decline in the unemployment rate to the pre-Asian crisis level. - CNA/ch

Source: Channelnewsasia.com

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SINGAPORE: Over 28,000 staff at the National Healthcare Group and Singapore Health Services can look forward to being re-employed in the same or a different job when they reach the age of 62, if they have a good work record and are in good health.

The two healthcare clusters say they are not waiting till 2012 – the year when the re-employment legislation kicks in – to tap on the silver workforce.

Besides re-employment, there are also plans to do more for the older workers to make their workplace more conducive.

In the case of Alexandra Hospital, it has launched a Workplace Health Promotion Programme to enhance employability through better health and lifestyle management.

SingHealth has also launched the Silver Connection movement last September to engage its mature staff.

They have held workshops on financial planning and setting of personal goals for their workers.

Source: Channelnewsasia.com

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SINGAPORE : Private sector bonuses are expected to be better this year.

A survey of 300 companies by the Singapore National Employers’ Federation (SNEF) last month showed that half of them could be paying out bonuses of two to three-and-a-half months, with a median payout of 2.8 months.

The SNEF also expects the job market to continue to be very strong in 2008.

Speaking to Channel NewsAsia, SNEF’s President Stephen Lee said the economy created 170,000 jobs in the first nine months of this year, or as many jobs as the whole of last year.

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