Labour Market Report First Quarter 2025

Main Findings

The labour market continued to expand in 1Q 2025 but at a slower pace compared to 4Q 2024. Total employment growth eased to 2,400 in 1Q 2025, down from 7,700 in 4Q 2024.¹ Both resident² (300) and non-resident (2,000) employment continued to grow but at a slower pace than in the previous quarter (1,400 and 6,300 respectively).

2 Resident employment growth was uneven across sectors. Resident employment rose in Health & Social Services and Financial & Insurance Services but declined in Professional Services and Information & Communications.

3 Non-resident growth was led by Work Permit holders who were mainly working in positions which were less likely to attract resident applicants, such as bus and truck drivers. 

4 Unemployment rates have risen slightly in March 2025 (overall: 2.0%; resident: 2.9%; citizen: 3.1%). The resident long-term unemployment rates have also increased slightly to 0.9% in March 2025 compared to December 2024 (0.8%) but remained comparable to non-recessionary norms.

5 The number of job vacancies increased from 77,500 in December 2024 to 81,100 in March 2025, raising the job vacancy rates from 3.1% in December 2024 to 3.2% in March 2025.  The job vacancy figures pertain to the period prior to the announcement of Liberation Day’s tariffs, hence, have yet to reflect any potential impact from the tariffs. The increase in job vacancies was broad-based across sectors, though signs of slowing manpower demand emerged in Manufacturing.

6 Retrenchments declined slightly from 3,680 in 4Q 2024 to 3,590 in 1Q 2025.  The incidence of retrenchment remained unchanged at 1.5 retrenched per 1,000 employees and well within non-recessionary norms (2014 to 2019 quarterly average of 1.7 per 1,000 employees). Fewer employees were placed on short work-week or temporary layoff (from 660 in 4Q 2024 to 570 in 1Q 2025), while the resident re-entry rate into employment within 6 months post-retrenchment improved from 58.1% in 4Q 2024 to 60.6% in 1Q 2025. Together, these suggest that while firms are exercising caution in hiring, they are also holding back from deeper workforce cuts, reflecting a measured approach in workforce management amid ongoing economic uncertainty.

Labour Market Expectations

7 The near-term global economic outlook remains uncertain although Singapore’s external demand outlook has improved slightly, given that major economies have taken steps to de-escalate global trade tensions.³ 

8 The increase in job vacancies from December 2024 to March 2025 has yet to reflect the impact of the Liberation Day’s tariff announcement on 2 April 2025.  Based on the latest polls conducted in April and May 2025, which also reflected sentiments following the reduction and partial suspension of certain tariffs after the announcement, firms remained measured in their outlook for manpower planning. Although there was a modest increase in hiring intentions – 42.2% of firms polled in April and May 2025 planned to hire for 3Q 2025, up from 40.5% for firms surveyed between January to March 2025 (for the 2Q 2025 outlook), this increase was not broad-based. It was largely driven by a few sectors – including Professional Services and Financial Services – while hiring sentiments softened in most other sectors.

9 Wage expectations remained stable, with 21.2% of firms in April and May 2025 indicating plans to raise wages in 3Q 2025, comparable to 21.7% in January to March 2025 (for the 2Q 2025 outlook).

Conclusion

10 MOM encourages employers and workers to tap on the wide suite of initiatives and programmes to press on with transformation and upskilling, adapt to changes, and seize new opportunities:

a. As announced at Budget 2025, the Government will be introducing the SkillsFuture Workforce Development Grant (WDG) as part of the Enterprise Workforce Transformation Package. This will bring together workforce transformation schemes administered by Workforce Singapore (WSG) and SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) and simplify the application process. More details will be released in due course. In the meantime, employers can also tap on our existing schemes to reskill and upskill their workers, such as the Career Conversion Programmes and Mid-Career Pathways Programme. Employers can also benefit from the Support for Job Redesign under the Productivity Solutions Grant (PSG-JR) to redesign jobs in anticipation of change and make them more productive and attractive to jobseekers. The SkillsFuture Enterprise Credit will also be redesigned in 2026 along with a fresh $10,000 of credits to use on workforce transformation programmes. Employers who have not tapped on their existing credits can do so to offset out-of-pocket costs for these programmes. 

b. Through Career Health SG, the Government will empower Singaporeans to take charge of their careers and access better job opportunities amid changes in the economy. Workers can make use of the CareersFinder feature on WSG’s MyCareersFuture job portal to explore career and training options. Singaporeans can also tap on career coaching and guidance services provided by WSG and NTUC’s Employment and Employability Institute, and the wide range of SkillsFuture training programmes such as the SkillsFuture Level-Up Programme. These can help workers improve their career resilience and prospects during this period of uncertainty.

c. The SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support scheme was launched earlier this year. This scheme will provide temporary financial support of up to $6,000 over six months to involuntarily unemployed individuals, as they look for their next job.

d. The Singapore Economic Resilience Taskforce is reviewing further measures to help businesses and workers navigate the immediate uncertainties and position Singapore for the new economic landscape. The Government is working with the Institutes of Higher Learning to ramp up access to job opportunities for fresh graduates and encourages businesses to think long-term and continue to grow a pipeline of talent for the future.

For More Information

11 The “Labour Market Report 1Q 2025” is released by the Manpower Research and Statistics Department, Ministry of Manpower. The report and technical notes on the various indicators are available at https://stats.mom.gov.sg.