A summary on the employment scene in Singapore
15 December 2005
Labour Market, Third Quarter 2005
On the back of an improving economy, overall employment has turned
in another quarter of strong gains, adding to the increases of the
past eight quarters. Unemployment rate has also edged down
slightly.
2 Employment grew by a healthy 28,500 in Q3 05. Although lower than
the preceding quarters gain of 31,700, the increase is double the
14,100 in the same period a year ago. Cumulatively, employment
expanded by 78,000 in the first nine months of 2005, surpassing the
71,400 gains for the whole of last year.
3 Amid the healthy economic expansion, the seasonally adjusted
overall unemployment rate dipped slightly to 3.3% in Sep 05 from
3.4% in Jun 051. Among the resident2 labour force, the seasonally
adjusted rate was 4.4%, also lower than 4.5% in Jun 05. Slightly
over one in five resident jobs seekers (21% or 14,800) in Sep 05
were unemployed for at least 25 weeks. These long-term unemployed
were mostly the less educated and mature job seekers.
4 A survey of private sector establishments each with at least 25
employees revealed that 2,810 workers were retrenched in Q3 05.
This is substantially higher than previous quarters 2,116 and
1,967 in Q3 04, pulled up by a few major retrenchment cases mainly
in the electronics industry.
5 Private sector job openings numbered 20,100 in Sep 05. This is an
increase of 4.2% over the previous quarter and 6.1% higher than a
year ago. However, after discounting for seasonal influences,
private sector job vacancies in Sep 05 fell slightly from the
quarter before. The seasonally adjusted ratio of job vacancies to
unemployed persons decreased from 46 in Jun 05 to 42 job openings
for every 100 job seekers in Sep 053. Nevertheless, this is an
improvement from the low of 21 openings per 100 job seekers
experienced in Sep 03, following the SARS outbreak.
6 Indicating a tightening of the labour market, nominal earnings
rose year-on-year by 4.5% in Q3 05, up from the 2.5% rise in the
previous quarter. Most industries saw higher earnings growth except
for construction, hotels & restaurants and business & real
estate services.
7 Employment has turned in another quarter of healthy gains,
reflecting the continuing strength in the economy. Looking ahead,
the employment expansion is likely to be sustained for the rest of
the year, supported by the year-end festivities. Consequently,
employment creation for the whole of this year is expected to match
or even exceed the robust gains of 108,500 experienced during the
economic boom in 2000.
Taken from www.mom.gov.sg
