The Ministry of Manpower’s quarterly labour market report was released this week
The long-term unemployment rate of Singapore residents edged up slightly to 0.8% in the first quarter from 0.7% a year ago, according to the Ministry of Manpower’s quarterly Labour Market report released on Tuesday. This comes amid “continued cyclical weakness” in some sectors and ongoing business restructuring.
The seasonally-adjusted ratio of job vacancies to unemployed persons improved slightly from 0.77 in December 2016 to 0.81 in March 2017, after declining for the previous seven quarters, the ministry added. This means there were 81 vacancies for every 100 unemployed persons.
Residents’ unemployment rate remained unchanged (3.2%) from the previous quarter. Following a “modest” growth of 2,300 in the last three months of 2016, total unemployment contracted by 6,500 in the first quarter this year – the ministry previously estimated the decline at 8,500.
MOM said the decline reflected a reduction in the foreign workforce, mainly due to a decrease in work permit holders in Manufacturing and Construction – “a result of low oil prices and continued weakness in private sector construction activity respectively.”
But data also showed growth in sectors such as Community, Social & Personal Services, and Financial & Insurance Services. Redundancies also declined to 4,000 in the first quarter, from 5,440 in the last three months of 2016, and 4,710 a year ago. In particular, MOM said Manufacturing redundancies were the lowest in the past six quarters.
MOM reported a 64% six-month re-entry rate among residents made redundant comparable to the previous quarter (65%). Younger workers below 30 (78%) and Clerical, Sales and Service Workers (78%) had the highest rates of re-entry.
Looking ahead, the ministry said the labour market outlooks is likely to remain uneven across sectors. “Hiring expectations remain cautious in sectors such as Construction and Marine, while sectors such as Finance & Insurance, Information & Communications, Healthcare and certain segments of Manufacturing should continue to support job growth.”