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Employment Situation, 2014

Unemployment remained low with more locals employed

Statistics and publications
  1. Unemployment for residents and citizens fell in December, even as redundancy rose slightly amidst business restructuring. Local employment grew faster, while foreign worker growth continued to moderate. There was a sustained increase in median income for Singaporeans over the last five years, even though growth moderated from the exceptionally high increase in 2013. These are the key preliminary findings from the "Employment Situation, 2014" report released by the Ministry of Manpower's Research and Statistics Department.

    Main Findings

    Unemployment remained low
  2. Preliminary estimates showed that the overall seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained low in December 2014 (1.9%), as the resident (from 2.8% to 2.6%) and citizen (from 2.9% to 2.6%) unemployment rate declined over the quarter. For the whole of 2014, unemployment stayed low for overall (2.0%), residents (2.7%) and citizens (2.9%), broadly unchanged from 2013.

    Local employment grew faster, as foreign workforce growth continued to moderate
  3. Supported by hirings for year-end festivities, overall employment growth was higher in the fourth quarter of 2014 (39,600) than in the previous quarter (33,400), but lower than in the fourth quarter of last year (40,600).
  4. For the whole of 2014, total employment is estimated to have increased by 129,000, lower than the 136,200 in 2013 and similar to the 129,100 in 2012.

    Redundancies rose slightly in the fourth quarter, amidst business restructuring
  5. 3,800 workers were laid off in the fourth quarter of 2014, up slightly from 3,500 in the preceding quarter and 3,660 in the fourth quarter of 2013. For the whole of 2014, 12,800 workers were laid off, higher than the 11,560 in 2013.

    Sustained income growth
  6. There was a sustained increase in median income for Singaporeans over the last five years, even though growth moderated over the year in 2014. The median monthly income from work of full-time employed citizens (including employer Central Provident Fund (CPF) contributions) increased by 30% from $2,748 in 2009 to $3,566 in 2014, or 5.3% p.a. After adjusting for inflation using the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for all items, the real median income grew by 11% or 2.1% p.a. over these five years.
  7. Boosted by on-going initiatives to raise the incomes of low-wage workers, income growth at the 20th percentile kept pace with the median income growth in the recent five years. Income (including employer CPF contributions) at the 20th percentile of full-time employed citizens rose by 26% from $1,468 in 2009 to $1,856 in 2014 in nominal terms, or 4.8% p.a. The increase after adjusting for inflation was 8.1% or 1.6% p.a.

    For More Information
  8. The "Employment Situation, 2014" report is available on the MOM's Statistics and Publications webpage. More comprehensive labour market data will be released in the "Labour Market Report, 2014" on 13 March 2015.