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Unemployment Remained Low Amid Concerns Over Slower Growth

Employment Situation, Third Quarter 2012

Statistics and publications

31 October 2012

  1. Employment creation moderated and layoffs rose after declining in the preceding two quarters. Unemployment remained low, reflecting strong manpower demand amid the tightening in foreign manpower controls. These are the key preliminary findings from the "Employment Situation, Third Quarter 2012" report released by the Ministry of Manpower's Research and Statistics Department. More comprehensive labour market data will be released in the "Labour Market Report, Third Quarter 2012" on 14 December 2012.

    Main Findings
  2. Employment growth moderated in the third quarter of 2012, after increasing in the previous quarter. Preliminary estimates show that total employment grew by 24,900 in the third quarter of 2012, down from the increase of 31,900 in the same period last year and 31,700 in the second quarter of 2012.
  3. The growth in employment slowed in services from 21,200 in the third quarter of 2011 to 11,300 in the third quarter of 2012 and manufacturing from 3,900 to 3,700. Boosted by public infrastructure projects, construction continued to register strong employment increase of 9,800 in the third quarter of 2012, up from 6,700 in the same quarter last year.
  4. Layoffs rose after declining in the preceding two quarters. An estimated 3,300 workers were made redundant in the third quarter of 2012.1 Mainly driven by higher layoffs in electronics manufacturing and retail, this was one of the few higher quarterly redundancy figures reported in post-recessionary periods, though it was substantially lower than the highs of 6,000 to 12,800 per quarter registered during the last recession.
  5. Unemployment rates remained low, reflecting strong manpower demand amid the tightening in foreign manpower controls. The seasonally adjusted overall unemployment rate dipped marginally to 1.9% in September 2012 from 2.0% a quarter ago, while the unemployment rates for residents and Singapore citizens were unchanged at 2.8% and 3.0% respectively.

    For More Information
  6. The "Employment Situation, Third Quarter 2012" report is available online on MOM's Statistics and Publication webpage. More comprehensive labour market data will be released in the "Labour Market Report, Third Quarter 2012" on 14 December 2012.
1 Data pertain to private establishments each with at least 25 employees and the public sector.