Manpower Ministry will monitor redundancy rates though third quarter number is low

Acting Manpower Minister, Tan Chuan-Jin says it remains encouraging that Singapore's 2.8% resident unemployment rate remains very low. 

He adds that employment growth in the third quarter is still high at 24,900. 

Mr Tan was commenting on the release of the employment situation in the third quarter of 2012 in a Facebook post. 

He stressed that with Singapore's economy expected to grow between 1.5 to 2.5 percent, the government has to continue to moderate employment growth to a more sustainable pace. 

This means that companies will press on with restructuring. 

The Acting Minister explained that redundancies and labour turnover are part and parcel of restructuring, and freeing up manpower for more competitive businesses. 

In this light, Mr Tan feels the redundancy level at 3,300 in the third quarter is probably not excessive. 

But he adds that the Manpower Ministry will continue to monitor the situation, facilitate re-entry to jobs, and keep long-term unemployment low. 

MOM will also continue to keep a close watch of the layoffs and re-entry rates, especially among older professionals, managers and executives or PMEs. 

Relevant agencies Workforce Development Agency, WDA together with e2i, the 5 CDCs' Career Centres, and Caliberlink, are also on the ground working to help workers with skills upgrading or job matching.