Ministry of Manpower employment report showed number of layoffs has gone up in Singapore

Employment creation in Singapore moderated in the third quarter while layoffs rose after declining in the previous two quarters.

The Ministry of Manpower said its preliminary estimates showed that total employment grew by 24,900 in the three months to September, that’s down some 20 per cent from the second quarter.

The growth in employment slowed in services and manufacturing.

However, construction continued to register strong employment increase of 9,800 boosted by public infrastructure projects.

MOM said an estimated 3,300 workers were made redundant in the third quarter.

This was mainly driven by higher layoffs in electronics manufacturing and retail.

MOM said this was one of the few higher quarterly redundancy figures reported in post-recessionary periods, though it was substantially lower than the highs of 6,000 to 12,800 per quarter registered during the last recession.

Despite this, unemployment rates remained low, reflecting strong manpower demand amid the tightening in foreign manpower controls.

The overall unemployment rate dipped marginally to 1.9 per cent in September from two per cent in June.

But the unemployment rates for residents and Singapore citizens were unchanged at 2.8 per cent and three per cent.