Labour Market, Second Quarter 2010

1. Supported by strong economic expansion, the labour market performed favourably in the second quarter of 2010. Total employment rose for the fourth consecutive quarter, with gains of 24,900. This brought the total gains in the first half of this year to 61,400, as opposed to a loss of 13,800 in the same period last year.
2. The services sector added 25,400 workers in the second quarter of 2010, smaller than the gains of 33,400 in the preceding quarter. Construction registered an increase of 2,000 workers, compared to a small decline of 400 in the first quarter. However, manufacturing employment fell by 2,300, after increasing by 3,100 in the preceding quarter.
3. Unemployment has stabilised, after declining sharply at the end of 2009. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rates were unchanged over the quarter at 2.2% (overall) and 3.2% (resident) in June 2010. Both rates represented significant improvements from 3.2% (overall) and 4.5% (resident) a year ago. There were 84,400 unemployed residents in June 2010. The seasonally adjusted number was 65,500, comparable to 66,200 in March 2010, but down 27% from 90,300 in June 2009.
4. Long-term unemployment improved significantly. The number of residents who had been looking for work for at least 25 weeks decreased substantially from 25,800 or 1.3% of the resident labour force in June 2009 to 16,500 or 0.8% in June 2010. Their share among the pool of job seekers also improved from 22% to 20% over the year.
5. Redundancies remained at around pre-recessionary quarterly levels. 2,280 workers were made redundant in the second quarter of 2010, slightly lower than 2,400 in the preceding quarter. Redundancies in manufacturing rose over the quarter from 1,120 to 1,220, while that in construction and services fell from 340 to 150 and 940 to 920 respectively.
6. Re-employment prospects of residents who were laid off also improved. CPF records showed that 55% of residents who were laid off in the first quarter of this year were re-employed by June 2010. This re-employment rate within six months of redundancy was an improvement from 50% in March 2010.
7. Job vacancies increased by 73% over the year to 45,100 in June 2010. After adjusting for seasonality, job vacancies rose for the fifth straight quarter, with a gain of 12% from March 2010. As vacancies rose and unemployment stabilised, the seasonally adjusted ratio of job vacancies to unemployed persons increased to 1.04 in June 2010 from 0.90 in March 2010. This marks the first time that job vacancies have slightly outnumbered job seekers in this economic recovery.
8. Amid the favourable economic climate, both the average monthly recruitment and resignation rates rose to 2.9% and 2.2% respectively in the second quarter of 2010 from 2.1% and 1.8% a year ago. After adjusting for seasonality, the average monthly resignation rate rose for the fourth consecutive quarter, while the recruitment rate stabilised in the second quarter of 2010, following three quarters of increase.
9. Labour productivity continued its cyclical upturn for the fourth consecutive quarter. Year on year growth was double-digit at 15% in the second quarter of 2010, comparable to 14% in the previous quarter. Nominal earnings grew by 5.8% in the second quarter of 2010, higher than the 3.7% increase in the first quarter of 2010. However, with inflation rising faster in the second quarter (3.1% against first quarter’s 0.9%), the increase in real earnings was 2.6%, which was 0.2%-point lower than in the first quarter of 2010.
10. In summary, employment rose for the fourth successive quarter while redundancies remained at a pre-recessionary low level, helping unemployment to stabilise after improving significantly at the end of last year. With the continued rise in manpower demand, job openings have outnumbered job seekers for the first time in this economic recovery.
    
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11. The report is available online on our Statistics and Publications Page.