FINAL REPORT Final Report - NER 2018 6Mar2018 (For Publication) | Page 92

National Employment Returns (NER) 2018
Hard-to-fill Job Vacancies
Examining hard-to-fill vacancies helps to put the size of the difficult-to-fill jobs problem into context.
Two third of the establishments (65%) claimed to have experienced difficulty in filling up certain
vacancies (refer to Figure 4.9). 76% of the establishments within the Accommodation & Food Service
sector were experiencing difficulty in filling up certain vacancies. Besides, the NER 2018 results also
show that those with difficulties filling certain vacancies were concentrated in Manufacturing,
Information & Communication, Human Health & Social Work and Other Services sectors (i.e. above
average).
Figure 4.9 Distribution of Establishments with Difficulties Filling Jobs by MSIC
Overall, 60% of the current vacancies were considered as hard to-fill (i.e. vacancies that have yet to be
filled after 3 months or longer despite recruitment efforts). When asked about the reasons why the
vacancies are hard-to-fill, 65% of establishments mentioned it was due to the lack of applicants,
followed by 61% of them believed it was due to the applicants lacked in terms of competency or skills
level and 60% of them who opined that the applicants lacked working experience. Nonetheless,
Education qualification (28%) was not a major factor for these hard to fill vacancies.
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