SINGAPORE — Singapore’s overall employment rose at a faster pace in the second quarter of this year than in the prior quarter, thanks to a steady increase in resident employment and more robust growth in nonresident employment.
Total employment expanded by 64,000 in the second quarter, compared with a 42,000 increase in the first quarter, according to advance estimates released by the Ministry of Manpower on Friday.
A larger proportion of the increase stemmed from nonresidents, mainly in the construction and manufacturing sectors, as Singapore’s easing of border restrictions in April led to employers in such sectors to hire to backfill positions to meet rising demand.
Unemployment rates in Singapore have been trending downward since peaking in October 2020, and held steady after reaching pre-Covid-19 levels in February 2022 amid a tight labor market and record-high number of job vacancies, the ministry said.
In June, the overall unemployment rate was 2.1%, the resident unemployment rate was 2.9% and the citizen unemployment rate was 3.1%, the ministry added.
The number of retrenchments in Singapore remained low at 1,000 in the second quarter, the ministry said. Similar to recent quarters, business reorganization or restructuring remained the top reason for layoffs, the ministry added.
