Professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) comprised 71% of all redundancies last year despite only making up 54% of all employed residents.
These statistics come from the latest figures from the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) in the
Labour Market report for 2015 released yesterday (15 March).
This report stated that the total number of redundancies increased last year. In the fourth quarter of 2015, a total of 5,370 workers were laid off, which is up from both the third quarter of 2015 (3,460) and the fourth quarter of 2014 (3,190).
2015 saw a total of 15,580 workers laid off. This has increased from the 12,930 made redundant in the previous year.
Despite the number of layoffs, labour turnover still managed to grow slightly. Total recruitment rates increased from 2.3% to 2.4% from the third to the fourth quarter in 2015. Resignation rates also rose from 1.8% to 2.0% during the same time period.
For PMETs last quarter, there was a 1.8% recruitment rate and a 1.3% resignation rate.
MOM also found that foreign worker growth moderated to 22,600 not including foreign domestic workers (FDWs). This puts the total number of foreign workers in Singapore at 1,155,800 (excluding FDWs).
With a total employment figure of 3,424,700, there are now two local workers (66.3%) for every one foreigner (33.7%) in the Singapore workforce (excluding FDWs).
For 2015, total employment grew by 23,300 excluding FDWs. This was slower than a year ago and the slowest rate since 2009. Most growth was relegated to the services industry with a 36,500 increase. Broken down further, we see sub-sectors with the following growth figures:
- Professional services (14,000)
- Administrative & support services (12,300)
- Information & communications (5,400)
- Accommodation & food services (4,800)
- Financial & insurance services (4,500)
- Real estate services (-5,100)
- Wholesale & retail trade (-9,400)
In 2015, the services industry hired a total of 6,000 local staff and 30,500 foreign workers (excluding FDWs).
Employers were seen to be hiring less externally with the total number of job vacancies declining to 53,700. This continued a downward trend of four consecutive quarters.
Labour turnover grew slightly as well. Total recruitment rates increased from 2.3% to 2.4% from the third to the fourth quarter in 2015. Resignation rates also rose from 1.8% to 2.0% in the same time period. For PMETs last quarter, there was a 1.8% recruitment rate and a 1.3% resignation rate.
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