Redundancy and Re-entry into Employment, 2013

Incidence of redundancy remained low in 2013

24 April 2014

Key Findings from “Redundancy and Re-entry into Employment, 2013” Report

1. The incidence of redundancy and unemployment remained low in 2013, as the labour market continued to be tight. While the overall rate of re-entry into employment declined slightly, there were signs of improvement in the last three quarters of the year.
   
   Redundancy
2. In 2013, 11,560 workers were laid off, slightly higher than the 11,010 in 2012¹. Seen against a larger pool of employees, the incidence of redundancy remained low at 5.8 workers per 1,000 employees, unchanged from 2012.
3. Restructuring of business processes for greater work efficiency remained the top reason for redundancy in 2013, affecting 40% of the workers laid off in 2013, up from 37% in 2012. High costs and reorganisation of businesses were the other key reasons cited.
4. Professionals, managers, executives & technicians (PMETs) were more vulnerable to redundancy, with 7.3 made redundant for every 1,000 PMETs, compared to production & related workers (5.7 per 1,000) and clerical, sales & service workers (2.8 per 1,000). Nonetheless, the unemployment rate of PMETs remained lower than other occupations², and the number of residents laid off from PMET positions was not large at 4,940.
   
   Re-entry into Employment³
5. Two-thirds (66%) of residents made redundant in the first three quarters of 2013 re-entered employment by December 2013, within 12 months of redundancy. This was slightly lower than the rate experienced by the preceding cohort in 2012 (68%), due to PMETs who take longer to secure re-entry into employment, as they spend more time seeking jobs that match their skills, qualifications and salary expectations. However, there was improvement in the last three quarters of the year, with the rate of re-entry into employment within six months of redundancy rising from 49% in March 2013 to 59% in December 2013.
   
   For More Information
6. The report is available online on the Ministry of Manpower’s Statistics and Publications webpage. It goes beyond the quarterly reporting in the Labour Market Reports to provide additional analysis on the incidence of redundancy, reasons for redundancy, profile of establishments with redundancy, time taken to secure re-entry into employment and the shift in industry among those who re-entered employment.

¹ Data pertain to private sector establishments (each with at least 25 employees) and the public sector.

² The resident unemployment rate (excluding the unemployed without work experience) for PMETs was 2.6%, lower than 3.5% for all occupations in June 2013. The corresponding figures were 5.3% for clerical, sales & service workers and 3.8% for production & related workers. Figures are non-seasonally adjusted. Source: “Labour Force In Singapore, 2013”, Manpower Research and Statistics Department, MOM.

³Data are based on CPF records.