Labour Market Advance Release – Second Quarter 2026

Overview

              Advance data indicate that Singapore’s labour market continued to expand in 2Q 2026 despite continued global uncertainty. Total employment¹ grew by 10,700, marking the 19^th consecutive quarter of growth, and unemployment rates remained low and stable. Although retrenchments increased, they were driven primarily by business restructuring in selected outward-oriented sectors. Labour demand remains resilient, and surveys indicate an uplift in employers’ hiring sentiments.

Main Findings²

Total employment continued to grow for the 19^th consecutive quarter

2            Total employment grew by 10,700 in 2Q 2026, up from 9,400 in 1Q 2026 and was broadly similar to the 10,400 in 2Q 2025. This marked the 19^th consecutive quarter of growth since 4Q 2021.

3              Resident³ employment continued to grow, albeit at a slower pace compared to the previous quarter. Resident employment growth was mainly in essential and public services. Following the slower non-resident employment growth in 1Q 2026, employment growth was driven primarily by non-residents in 2Q 2026, mainly in sectors such as Construction and Manufacturing.

Unemployment rates remained low and broadly stable

4              Unemployment rates remained low and stable in June 2026 (overall: 2.0%, resident: 2.9%, citizen: 3.0%), comparable to March 2026 (overall: 2.0%, resident: 2.9%, citizen: 3.1%).

Retrenchments rose but remained concentrated in outward-oriented sectors

5            The number of retrenchments rose from 3,830 in 1Q 2026 to 4,500 in 2Q 2026, bringing the incidence of retrenchment up from 1.6 to 1.9 per 1,000 employees. The increase was concentrated in some outward-oriented sectors, driven primarily by business restructuring. Nonetheless, retrenchments remained well below levels typically seen during periods of downturn⁴.

Labour Market Outlook

6              Forward-looking indicators improved in June. The share of firms expecting to hire over the next three months rose from 40.6% in May 2026 to 43.9% in June 2026, while the share expecting to raise wages increased from 23.7% to 29.3% over the same period. At the same time, the share of firms expecting to retrench fell from 3.2% in May to 2.7% in June. The improvement in hiring, wage, and retrenchment expectations suggests that labour demand is resilient, even as firms remain cautious given economic uncertainties and continued business restructuring in some sectors.

Conclusion

7              In view of the headwinds in the global economy and rapid technological change, it is important for companies and workers to proactively and continuously upgrade their competitive capabilities. The Government continues to support employers and workers by investing in workforce transformation and human capital development through a suite of programmes:

1. For employers: Employers can draw on various schemes to support the reskilling and upskilling of their workers, such as the Career Conversion Programmes and Mid-Career Pathways Programme. The SkillsFuture Workforce Development Grant (Job Redesign+) provides funding support of up to 70% for workforce transformation and job redesign project costs, capped at $150,000 per enterprise, with higher support levels provided for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

    

2. For workers: Career Health SG supports Singaporeans in strengthening their employability and accessing better job opportunities. Singaporeans can use career coaching and guidance services provided by the Skills and Workforce Development Agency and NTUC’s Employment and Employability Institute to navigate the labour market and plan their careers. They can also use their SkillsFuture Credit to cover out-of-pocket fees for eligible training programmes. Mid-career Singaporeans may also benefit from the SkillsFuture Level-Up Programme, which provides enhanced course fee support and training allowances to help them upskill and reskill, and stay relevant in a rapidly changing economy.

    

3. For fresh graduates: The GRaduate Industry Traineeships (GRIT) offers fresh graduates an alternative entry point into the workforce, with opportunities to gain industry-relevant skills and experience. Applications for GRIT are open to the 2026 graduating cohort and can be made through MyCareersFuture and Careers@Gov.

    

4. For the involuntarily unemployed: The SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support scheme provides eligible involuntarily unemployed individuals with temporary financial support of up to $6,000 over six months while they undertake active job search.

8              The Labour Market Report Second Quarter 2026, to be released in mid-September 2026, will provide a comprehensive assessment and more details of the labour market situation in 2Q 2026. This will include resident and non-resident employment breakdowns, sectoral data, number of job vacancies, labour turnover, and re-entry rates among retrenched residents. For more information on the trends for total employment change, retrenchments, and unemployment rates, please refer to the Annex.

For More Information

9              The full report is available online on MOM’s Research and Statistics Department website at stats.mom.gov.sg.

10           For data requests and queries pertaining to the report, please reach out to MOM’s Research and Statistics Department at mom_rsd@mom.gov.sg.