Labour Market Report 2Q 2025

MAIN FINDINGS 

1. The labour market remained resilient in 2Q 2025, in line with the continued economic expansion¹.

2. Total employment grew by 10,400 in 2Q 2025, improving from the muted gains in 1Q 2025². Resident employment continued to expand in growth sectors such as Health & Social Sciences, although there were signs of labour market softening in some outward-oriented sectors such as Professional Services and Information & Communications. Non-resident employment growth was driven by an increase in Work Permit holders in jobs such as construction labourers, bus and truck drivers. 

3. Unemployment rates in June 2025 (overall: 2.0%; resident: 2.8%; citizen: 2.9%) stayed low. The resident long-term unemployment rates have remained stable at 0.9%.

4. Job vacancies eased but remained high. The number of job vacancies decreased from 81,100 in March 2025 to 76,900 in June 2025, and correspondingly the job vacancy rate decreased from 3.2% in March 2025 to 2.9% in June 2025. Nonetheless, there remained more vacancies than the number of jobseekers, with the ratio standing at 1.35.

5. The incidence of retrenchments remained low at 1.4 per 1,000 employees, as the number of retrenchments declined (1Q 2025: 3,590, 2Q 2025: 3,540). The resident re-entry rate into employment within 6 months post-retrenchment declined slightly from 60.6% in 1Q 2025 to 56.3% in 2Q 2025. The decline was led by non-PMETs. The number of employees placed on short work-week or temporary layoff also remained low at 620 in 2Q 2025.

LABOUR MARKET ASSESSMENT AND EXPECTATIONS

6. In August 2025, MTI upgraded Singapore’s GDP growth forecast for 2025 from “0.0% to 2.0%” to “1.5% to 2.5%”. Looking ahead, GDP growth is expected to slow in 2H 2025, from the 4.3% year-on-year growth achieved in 1H 2025.

7. Singapore’s economic outlook for the rest of the year remains clouded by uncertainty, with the risks tilted to the downside. This global uncertainty is expected to weigh on hiring and wages, particularly in outward-oriented sectors.

8. Notwithstanding the economic outlook, the labour market as a whole is expected to remain resilient. Surveyed firms indicated they are likely to manage slower growth by, where necessary, limiting new hires, using short work-week arrangements and moderating wage increases. Retrenchment intentions remained low but have also edged up³. 

CONCLUSION

9. The uncertainties and headwinds in the global economy calls for pre-emptive action. Employers and workers should invest in human capital so as to stay resilient and adaptable to new opportunities. The Government provides a suite of programmes to support employers and workers:

i. Employers can 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 to improve productivity. The SkillsFuture Enterprise Credit will 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. 

ii. Through Career Health SG, the Government will empower Singaporeans to take charge of their careers and access better job opportunities. Workers can make use of the CareersFinder feature on Workforce Singapore (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.

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

10. The Singapore Economic Resilience Taskforce (SERT) continues to monitor the latest developments globally and has rolled out measures to support businesses and workers to navigate the immediate uncertainties: 

i. To support fresh graduates’ entry into the workforce, the Taskforce has recently announced the GRaduate Industry Traineeships (GRIT) to provide further support and reassurance to fresh graduates, with applications opening in October 2025. The Government is working with the Institutes of Higher Learning to ramp up access to job opportunities for fresh graduates.

ii. Expansion of access to career guidance services to help workers build their career health, by further defraying out-of-pocket fees and scaling up its provision.  

iii. Enhancement of funding support for HR certification from the Institute of HR Professionals to help businesses manage their workforce and strengthen the HR profession. 

11. The Taskforce will continue to assess the evolving situation and stands ready to further support businesses and workers as needed.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

12. The “Labour Market Report 2Q 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.