Labour Market Report 3Q 2025

MAIN FINDINGS

1. Supported by continued economic growth¹, the labour market grew at a faster pace in 3Q 2025 compared to the previous quarter, and unemployment and retrenchments remained low. Although economic uncertainties have receded since the first half of 2025, it remains elevated and will continue to weigh on firms, pointing to a moderation of labour demand.

2. Total employment grew by 25,100 in 3Q 2025, stronger than the 10,400 increase in 2Q 2025². Resident³ employment continued to expand and was led by Financial & Insurance Services and Health & Social Services, while non-resident employment grew mainly in Construction and Manufacturing.

3. Unemployment rates in September 2025 (overall: 2.0%; resident: 2.8%; citizen: 3.1%) stayed low. The resident long-term unemployment rates remained stable at 0.9% in September 2025.

4. The number of job vacancies continued to ease slightly from 76,900 in June 2025 to 69,200 in September 2025, but job vacancies for Professionals, Managers and Executives (PMEs) have remained firm. With fewer job seekers, the ratio of job vacancies to unemployed persons increased from 1.35 in June 2025 to 1.49 in September 2025.

5. The incidence of retrenchment (1.6 retrenched per 1,000 employees) and the number of retrenchments (3,670) remained low. The resident re-entry rate into employment within 6 months post-retrenchment declined slightly from 56.3% in 2Q 2025 to 55.4% in 3Q 2025. Employers chose to place employees on short work-week or temporary layoff (800 in 3Q 2025 compared to 620 in 2Q 2025), rather than retrench employees.

LABOUR MARKET ASSESSMENT AND EXPECTATIONS

6. In November 2025, MTI upgraded Singapore’s GDP growth forecast for 2025 from “1.5% to 2.5%” to “around 4.0%”. The revised GDP forecast reflects the better-than-expected performance of the Singapore economy in 3Q 2025, as well as improvements to the global and domestic situations since August.

7. Downside risks, however, remain in the global economy. Although economic uncertainties have receded since the first half of 2025, it remains elevated⁴.Looking ahead, business expectations show firms are more cautious in their intentions to hire or raise wages in the coming three months. At the same time, the share of firms planning redundancies has risen from 1.9% in June 2025 to 2.3% in September 2025. Outward-oriented firms continue to show relatively stronger hiring intent, although they are less likely than domestic-oriented firms to raise wages.

CONCLUSION

8. In view of the uncertainties and headwinds in the global economy, it is important for employers and workers to take action to stay resilient and adaptable. The Government provides a suite of programmes to support employers and workers to do so:

(a) For employers: Employers can tap on existing schemes to reskill and upskill their employees and new hires, such as Career Conversion Programmes. 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 and topped up with a fresh $10,000 of credits to offset out-of-pocket costs for workforce transformation programmes.

(b) For workers: 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 (e2i), 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 periods of uncertainty.

(c) For fresh graduates: The GRaduate Industry Traineeships (GRIT) will support fresh graduates’ entry into the workforce. Applications for GRIT can be made through MyCareersFuture and Careers@Gov. The Government is also working with Institutes of Higher Learning to increase access to job opportunities for fresh graduates.

(d) For the involuntarily unemployed: The SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support scheme launched earlier this year provides temporary financial support of up to $6,000 over six months to eligible involuntarily unemployed individuals who are engaged in active job search.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

9. The “Labour Market Report 3Q 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.