Online recruitment in Singapore grew by 12% in February 2021 when compared to February 2020, according to data from the Monster Employment Index.

On a month-on-month basis, the Index recorded an increase of 3%. In the last six months, Monster recorded an increase of 17%, highlighting progress in hiring demand among companies.

Online hiring demand in February 2021 exceeded February 2020 level in 10 of the 14 industries monitored by the Index.

Production/Manufacturing (+31%) saw the biggest year-on-year growth in e-recruitment among industries. This was followed by Engineering, Construction and Real Estate (+22%) and Healthcare (+19%).

On the other hand, Advertising, Market Research, Public Relations, Media and Entertainment (-13%), Oil & Gas (-2%), BFSI (banking, financial services, and insurance) (-1%) and Retail/Trade and Logistics (-1%), were the only industries to show decline in February 2021 from the year-ago level.

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

Real Estate (+31%) professionals saw the steepest year-on-year growth. Functional areas like HR & Admin (+6%), Sales & Business Development (+6%) and Finance & Accounts (+2%) 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.