Foreign employment growth has continued its five-year downtrend, dropping to a new low of 22,600 (excluding foreign domestic workers).
These figures come from the latest
Statement on Labour Market Developments from the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) which reviewed data from 2015.
The increase in foreign employment growth was driven primarily by the services sector which saw “significant” increases in the number of work permit holders, MOM said. On the other hand, the marine, process and manufacturing sectors experienced lower numbers of foreign workers.
Local employment growth was far lower last year with a meagre increase of 700.
The services industry accounted for the majority of total employment growth in 2015. Total employment in the sector grew by 36,500, an increase which was dragged back down by significant decreases in manufacturing.
The number of redundancies increased again, continuing an uptrend experienced since 2010.
In 2015, a total of 15,580 workers were laid off, up from 12,930 in 2014. This was the highest number of redundancies since the global financial crisis in 2009, MOM said.
Last year also saw a decline in the rate of re-entry into employment among those made redundant, the Ministry added.
“We expect redundancies to continue to rise in sectors facing weak external demand and that are undergoing restructuring,” the Ministry said.
“On the other hand, domestic-oriented services sectors such as community, social & personal services and food & beverage services are expected to continue to be labour reliant.”
