Online recruitment in Singapore grew by 18% in March 2021 when compared to March 2020, according to data from the Monster Employment Index.

The Monster Employment Index (MEI) stood at 132 in March 2021 as compared to 112 in March 2020.

On a month-on-month basis, the Index recorded growth of 8%.

Online hiring demand in March 2021 exceeded March 2020 level in 12 of the 14 industries monitored by the Index.

Production/Manufacturing (+30%) saw the most significant year-on-year growth in e-recruitment among industries. This was followed by Engineering, Construction and Real Estate (+21%) and Hospitality (+21%).

Advertising, Market Research, Public Relations, Media and Entertainment (-10%), Oil & Gas (-3%), were the only industries to show decline in March 2021 from the year-ago level.

At the same time, annual online demand for professionals increased for all of the 12 functional areas monitored by the Index.

Hospitality & Travel professionals witnessed steepest year-on-year growth (32%). This was followed by increase in demand for Software, Hardware, Telecom (29%) and Legal (24%) and professionals.

Meanwhile, functional areas like Customer Service (+12%), Purchase/ Logistics/Supply Chain (+10%) and Finance & Accounts (+9%) saw the lowest hiring demand among companies from the year ago level.

The Index is a broad and comprehensive monthly and quarterly analysis of online job posting activity conducted by Monster.