Pace of employment growth slows in third quarter, MOM says
Retrenchments increased and job vacancies declined in the third quarter this year as Singapore's latest Labour Market Report said the labour demand is cooling down.
The report, released by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) this week, showed that retrenchments went up from 3,200 to 4,110 in the third quarter.
The Wholesale Trade sector contributed to most of the increase, where there were 1,270 retrenchments recorded during the period, while retrenchments in other sectors remained "broadly stable."
Reorganisation or restructuring has been the most cited reason (61.9%) for the retrenchments. But the report found that a growing number of firms are also attributing the situation to business and cost concerns.
Despite the growing number of retrenchments, the re-entry rate of retrenched residents improved to 65.2% in third quarter, up from the 59.4% recorded in the previous quarter.
Meanwhile, job vacancies continued to decline for the sixth consecutive quarter in Singapore.
According to the Labour Market Report, job vacancies fell to 78,400 in September 2023, much lower than the peak of 126,000 registered in March 2022.
"Labour demand continued to cool," MOM said in a media release. "Job vacancies in growth sectors including Information & Communications, Health & Social Services, Professional Services, Financial & Insurance Services made up nearly one-third of the overall job vacancies available,"
In the third quarter, total employment expanded by 23,600, with resident employment bouncing back by growing 2,800 after a contraction in the second quarter.
"The increase in resident employment in 3Q 2023 was mainly in growth sectors including Health & Social Services, Financial & Insurance Services and Professional Services," MOM said.
Non-resident employment also went up by 20,800 in the third quarter, according to MOM, but it noted that this was the slowest growth rate since the fourth quarter of 2021.
Non-resident employment growth was driven by increases mainly in the Construction, Administrative & Support Services and Food & Beverage Services, according to the report.
Unemployment rate was at 1.9% in October 2023, with resident unemployment at 2.7% and citizen unemployment at 2.9%.
"The labour market remained tight with the ratio of job vacancies to unemployed persons at 1.58 in September 2023," MOM said.
Overall, the ministry noted that the pace of employment growth slowed down than a year ago, underscoring that economic headwinds will continue affecting the labour market in the future.
"To remain competitive and resilient amid economic uncertainty, I urge employers and workers to press on with business transformation and upskilling and make full use of government programmes to adapt to the changing environment," said Manpower Minister Tan See Leng in a statement.
