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APAC Edition
19th December 2025
 
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THE HOT STORY

Singapore extends Part-time Re-employment Grant

Singapore's Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has announced that it will extend the Part-Time Re-employment Grant (PTRG) until December 31, 2027, due to ongoing demand. The grant, which was introduced in 2020, aims to support employers in hiring senior workers aged 60 and above. MOM said: "Since its introduction in 2020, the take-up of the PTRG has been encouraging." Over 7,500 employers have used the grant, benefiting more than 65,000 senior workers, with over $92m disbursed since its inception. Companies registered in Singapore can apply for the grant.
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HIRING

Korea's foreign workforce hits record high

In 2025, Korea's foreign workforce reached a record 1.1m, according to a survey by the Ministry of Data and Statistics. The total number of foreigners aged 15 or older in Korea rose to 1.69m, an 8.4% increase from the previous year. Employment among international students surged by 71.8% to 56,000. The employment rate for foreigners is now 65.5%, with 45% working in manufacturing and mining. More than half earn between 2m and 3m won monthly, and nearly 70% expressed job satisfaction. The number of naturalised foreigners also increased to 52,000 this year.
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WORKFORCE

Insurance firm aims to boost Cambodia's informal economy

Phillip General Insurance will enhance support for Cambodia's informal economy by providing free access to insurance and financial education. The company is the second insurer to collaborate with the government to assist informal workers, who are among the most vulnerable in the economy. Minister Hem Vanndy highlighted the importance of the initiative, and Jeffrey Chew, chief executive of Phillip General Insurance, said: "We believe that the informal economy has real potential to grow the national economy."
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MANAGEMENT

Amazon overhauls AI team as chief declares an ‘inflection point’

Amazon has announced a management shake-up, including the departure of its artificial intelligence (AI) chief, as the company prioritizes catching up with rivals on their advanced chips and large language models.  Rohit Prasad, who helped build the Alexa voice assistant and led its AI efforts recently, will leave the company at the end of the year, while long-time executive Peter DeSantis will lead a new division developing the firm's AI development, chipmaking unit, and quantum computing research. Additionally Pieter Abbeel, who joined Amazon last year, is set to head up frontier model research with the AGI organization and continue to work on robotics. "We are at this inflection point with several of our new technologies that will power a significant amount of our future customer experiences," Amazon chief executive Andy Jassy wrote in a post to employees on Wednesday.
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SUSTAINABILITY

Companies quizzed over land practices after Indonesian floods

Bloomberg reports that severe flooding in northern Sumatra which left over 1,000 people dead and more than 1m displaced was amplified by decades of industrial land clearing which potentially turned an unusual cyclone-driven storm into a catastrophe, and officials are now questioning companies about their land practices. Sumatra has witnessed massive vegetation removal over the past two decades amid proliferating logging concessions, mining licenses and palm oil plantations. “There is a known link between tree cover and flooding,” said Sarah Carter, research associate at WRI’s Global Forest Watch. “Trees absorb water, acting like a sponge to prevent floods and landslides. Their roots help to prevent landslides by holding the soil together.”
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CORPORATE

Malaysia’s largest online insurance aggregator weighs IPO

Bjak Sdn, Malaysia’s largest online insurance aggregator, is considering an IPO within two years as it expands into new markets. Bjak has 7m users and 16 insurance brands on its platform and plans to double its team across the world by the end of 2026 from almost 200 people currently. “We’re still very young as a company,” Wei Low, the firm’s founder, said. “If you look at our other peers in other markets that are large, in China or the UK, it takes about 20 years to really maximize the potential or increase the penetration.”
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INTERNATIONAL

Delayed US jobs report reveals hiring slowdown in November

US job growth slowed sharply in November, with only 64,000 jobs added and the unemployment rate rising from 4.4% in September to 4.6%, the highest in over four years. The Labor Department report, the publication of which was delayed due to the six-week federal government shutdown, also showed a net loss of 105,000 jobs in October, primarily due to federal workforce reductions. The slowdown has prompted the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates for the third time since September. Health care and construction were among the few sectors to add jobs, at 46,000 and 28,000 respectively, while manufacturing and hospitality saw losses. Wage growth remained modest at 3.5% year-on-year. “The US economy is in a jobs recession,” said Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union. “The nation has added a mere 100,000 in the past six months. The bulk of those jobs were in healthcare, an industry that is almost always hiring due to America’s aging population.”

Mass layoffs at Guinea's Simandou mega mine

Guinea's Simandou mining project, touted by the country's military government as key to local economic transformation, is laying off thousands of workers just as it begins iron ore exports. Employment peaked at over 60,000 during construction, but only about 15,000 workers will be needed for operations. Chris Aitchison, managing director at Rio Tinto-Simfer, which runs the mine, said he was concerned about the risks raised by sudden job losses, which the industry refers to as demobilisation. "It's the what's next?" he said. "In other jurisdictions when we demobilise there's a pathway for employees or people that have been engaged in execution to move to other projects." The government has promised future employment through infrastructure initiatives, but many remain sceptical about the project's ability to deliver prosperity.

Louvre workers vote to extend strike

Employees at the Louvre have voted to extend their strike, which has already disrupted operations at the world's most visited museum. The strike, which was launched due to chronic understaffing and recent management decisions, followed a recent jewels heist that highlighted security issues. Union officials said that proposed measures from the Culture Ministry, including cancelling a funding cut and increasing staff compensation, are insufficient. Louvre President Laurence des Cars has admitted to an "institutional failure" in the wake of the heist 

Grand Theft Auto game creator 'sacked us for trying to unionise'

Former employees at Rockstar North, the firm behind Grand Theft Auto, have told the BBC that a "devastating" mass sacking took place allegedly because they tried to unionise. More than 30 staff were dismissed in October for what the company called "gross misconduct." Rockstar North, one of the UK's largest game developers, said it was incorrect to suggest the dismissals were linked to union membership or activities, and said it acted after staff discussed confidential information, including specific game features from upcoming titles, in a public forum. The Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain (IWGB) called the sackings a "ruthless act of union-busting."
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OTHER

Japan mandates nationality disclosure for real estate buyers

Japan has announced new regulations requiring all real estate buyers to provide proof of nationality, aimed at addressing rising housing prices driven by foreign speculation. This policy will necessitate the submission of a passport or equivalent identification when registering ownership, encompassing both foreign and Japanese citizens. The implementation of this new system is planned for fiscal 2026, following a public feedback period.
 
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