31 October 2006
Employment
Employment continues to grow strongly, amid the sustained economic expansion. Preliminary estimates show that employment grew by 41,600 in the third quarter of 2006, much higher than the 28,500 gains in the same period last year. The increase in employment also exceeds the 36,400 gains in the second quarter of 2006. Cumulatively, employment in the first 9 months of 2006 rose by 123,100. This has already surpassed the 113,300 gains for the whole of 2005.
2 All major sectors added workers, with the bulk of the gains continuing to come from services (24,600). Employment rose in manufacturing (11,300), continuing the uptrend that started in late 2003. Amid a pickup in building activities, construction increased its workforce (5,500) for the 7th consecutive quarter.
Table 1: Employment
(In Thousands)
| Employment Change | Employment Level as at Sep 06 p |
3Q 05 | 4Q 05 | 1Q 06 | 2Q 06 | 3Q 06p |
Total | 28.5 | 35.3 | 45.0 | 36.4 | 41.6 | 2,443.0 |
Manufacturing | 8.0 | 6.4 | 11.1 | 8.4 | 11.3 | 506.6 |
Construction | 2.2 | 1.7 | 5.6 | 3.5 | 5.5 | 249.7 |
Services | 18.5 | 25.7 | 28.0 | 24.4 | 24.6 | 1,670.8 |
Others* | -0.2 | 1.5 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 15.9 |
*: Includes agriculture, fishing, quarrying, utilities and sewerage & waste management.
'-': nil or negligible
Data may not add up to the total due to rounding.
Retrenchment
3 Preliminary findings from a survey of private sector establishments with at least 25 employees show that 2,300 workers were retrenched in the third quarter of 2006. This is lower than the 3,200 retrenched in the previous quarter and 2,800 in the same quarter last year.
4 Manufacturing continued to form the bulk of the workers retrenched (1,800), reflecting the on-going restructuring in the electronics industry. Another 500 of the workers laid off came from the services industries.
Table 2: Retrenchment
| 3Q 05 | 4Q 05 | 1Q 06 | 2Q 06 | 3Q 06P |
Total | 2 810 | 3 200 | 3 511 | 3 211 | 2,300 |
Manufacturing | 1 830 | 2 466 | 2 586 | 1 918 | 1,800 |
Construction | 29 | 58 | 62 | 318 | - |
Services | 947 | 671 | 821 | 968 | 500 |
Others* | 4 | 5 | 42 | 7 | - |
P: Preliminary estimates
*: Includes agriculture, fishing, quarrying, utilities and sewerage & waste management.
'-': nil or negligible
Unemployment
5 The seasonally adjusted overall unemployment rate was 2.7% in September 2006, a marked improvement from the 3.2% a year ago. It has also edged down slightly from the 2.8% in June 2006. The resident unemployment rate held steady at 3.6% (seasonally adjusted) from three months ago, but is significantly lower than 4.2% in September 2005.
Table 3: Unemployment Rate
| Sep 05 | Dec 05 | Mar 06 | Jun 06 | Sep 06p |
Seasonally Adjusted | | | | | |
Overall (%) | 3.2 | 2.6 | 2.6 | 2.8 | 2.7 |
Resident (%) | 4.2 | 3.4 | 3.4 | 3.6 | 3.6 |
| | | | | |
Non-Seasonally Adjusted | | | | | |
Overall (%) | 2.9 | 2.6 | 2.2 | 3.4 | 2.4 |
Resident (%) | 3.8 | 3.4 | 2.9 | 4.5 | 3.2 |
P: Preliminary estimates
6 On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, the overall unemployment rate fell from 3.4% in June 2006, when this year's batch of tertiary graduates joined the pool of job seekers, to 2.4% in September 2006, as more of them secured employment. Among the resident labour force, the non-adjusted unemployment rate was 3.2% in September 2006. An estimated 60,700 residents were unemployed. The seasonally adjusted figure was 67,200.
For More Information
7 Information on data sources and coverage, as well as definitions of key concepts used in the report is in the attached Explanatory Notes. The preliminary data estimates are available online at the Ministry of Manpowers website:
http://www.mom.gov.sg/mrsd/publication. A more detailed breakdown of the preliminary estimates will be released in the Economic Survey of Singapore, Third Quarter 2006.
8 The above is a statistical release of the Manpower Research and Statistics Department of the Ministry.
Explanatory Notes
Employment
Source
Administrative records. The self-employed component is estimated from the Labour Force Survey.
Coverage
The employment data comprises all persons in employment i.e. employees and the self–employed. However, it excludes males who are serving their 2-year full-time national service liability in the Singapore Armed Forces, Police and Civil Defence Forces.
Data on the number of local employees are compiled from the Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board's administrative records of active contributors defined as local employees who have at least one CPF contribution paid for him/her. A local employee is any Singapore citizen or Permanent Resident who is employed by an employer under a contract of service or other agreement entered into in Singapore. Every local employee and his/her employer are required to make monthly contributions to the CPF which is a compulsory savings scheme to provide workers financial security in old age and helps meet the needs of healthcare, home-ownership, family protection, and asset enhancement.
Data on foreigners working in Singapore are compiled from the stock of foreigners on valid work passes issued by the Ministry of Manpower. Foreigners can work in Singapore only if they have valid work passes issued by the Ministry of Manpower, upon application by their employers.
The number of self-employed residents is estimated from the Labour Force Survey. The self-employed comprises persons aged 15 years and over who are own account workers, employers or contributing family workers.
Concepts and Definitions
Employment change refers to the difference in the employment level at the end of the reference period compared with the end of the preceding period.
Uses and Limitations
This data series allows users to identify individual industries where employment is growing or stagnating. An analysis of the data over time also helps in understanding the impact of economic cyclical and structural changes on the demand for workers. Detailed data are published in the quarterly Labour Market Report.
The change in employment over time is the net result of increases and decreases in employment i.e. net of inflows and outflows of workers. Users should not mistake an increase in employment as gross job creation.
Unemployment
Source
Labour Force Survey
(Except for June 2005 data which were obtained from the General Household Survey conducted by Department of Statistics as the Labour Force Survey was not conducted for the period.)
Coverage
The survey covers private households on the main island of Singapore. It excludes workers living in construction worksites, dormitories and workers' quarters at the workplace and persons commuting from abroad to work in Singapore. To achieve full coverage of the labour force in Singapore, data on residents (also known as locals, i.e. Singapore citizens and permanent residents) from the survey are combined with foreign workforce data compiled from work passes issued by the Ministry of Manpower.
Concepts and Definitions
Unemployed Persons refer to persons aged 15 years and over who were without work during the survey reference period but were available for work and were actively looking for a job. They include persons who were not working but were taking steps to start their own business or taking up a new job after the reference period.
Unemployment Rate is defined as the percentage of unemployed persons to the total number of economically active persons (i.e. employed and unemployed persons) aged 15 years and over.
Uses and Limitations
The unemployment rate is probably the best-known measure of the labour market. It measures unutilised labour supply and is useful in the study of the economic cycle as it is closely related to the fluctuations in the business cycle.
Unemployment can have frictional, cyclical and structural elements. As it takes time for job seekers and employers to find a match, there is always a certain level of frictional unemployment due to people changing jobs and from new entrants looking for work for the first time. Unemployment can also be structural e.g. arising from a mismatch between the job seekers and the job openings available. With structural unemployment, even if job vacancies and job seekers coexist in the labour market, they may not be matched over a long period of time. Finally, unemployment can be cyclical. This occurs when there is a general decline in demand for manpower as aggregate demand for goods and services fall in the event of a cyclical downturn. Unlike structural and frictional unemployment where the problem is in matching job openings with job seekers, cyclical unemployment occurs when there are not enough jobs to go around.
Unemployment can vary due to changes in demand or supply of manpower. It can decline if more people succeed in securing employment or when the unemployed persons stop to look for a job and leave the labour force either temporarily (e.g. to take up training) or permanently (e.g. to retire). Conversely, unemployment may rise due to increase in labour supply from new entrants or re-entrants to the labour market. It will also rise if more people quit their jobs to look for alternative employment or if there is an increase in layoffs.
Retrenchment
Source
Labour Market Survey
Coverage
The survey covers private sector establishments each with at least 25 employees.
Concepts and Definitions
Retrenchment refers to the termination of employment of a permanent employee due to redundancy.
Uses and Limitations
Data on retrenchment are useful in the analysis of re-structuring or ailing industries. Detailed data are published in the quarterly Labour Market Report.
The number of persons retrenched (flow) should not be confused with persons unemployed (stock). Not all persons retrenched will be unemployed as some will be re-employed or decide to leave the workforce. Similarly, the pool of unemployed persons comes not only from retrenchments, but also from new entrants to the labour force such as school leavers and the economically inactive who decide to re-join the workforce.
