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Total Employment Up With Slight Rise in Unemployment

Employment

With a recovering economy, total employment is estimated to have grown by 15,400 in the third quarter, ending losses in the first and second quarters of 2009 (-6,200 and -7,700 respectively). Nevertheless, the gains were significantly lower than 55,700 in the third quarter of 2008.

Services employment rose by 13,400 in the third quarter, significantly higher than the gains of 7,500 in the first and 3,800 in the second quarter this year, but lower than 34,300 in the third quarter last year. Construction continued to add workers (8,100), higher than the increase in the preceding quarter (4,700) and comparable to the first quarter of 2009 (8,300). Manufacturing shed workers for the fourth consecutive quarter, but the decline (-6,600) was substantially lower than in the first two quarters this year (-22,100 in 1Q 09 and -15,900 in 2Q 09).
Table 1: Employment
(In Thousands)

Employment Change Employment Level as at
Sep 2009P
3Q 08 4Q 08 1Q 09 2Q 09 3Q 09P
Total* 55.7 21.3 -6.2 -7.7 15.4 2,953.9
Manufacturing 4.6 -7.0 -22.1 -15.9 -6.6 541.6
Construction 16.5 10.7 8.3 4.7 8.1 381.1
Services 34.3 17.3 7.5 3.8 13.4 2,010.9

P: Preliminary estimates

*: Total includes agriculture, fishing, quarrying, utilities and sewerage & waste management

Data may not add up due to rounding

Retrenchment and Redundancy

According to preliminary estimates, 2,000 workers were retrenched and 200 contracts were terminated prematurely, resulting in a total of 2,200 workers made redundant in the third quarter of 2009. This was substantially lower than the 5,980 workers made redundant in the second quarter of 2009, comprising 5,170 workers retrenched and 810 workers whose contracts were terminated prematurely.
Table 2.1: Redundancy

3Q 08 4Q 08 1Q 09 2Q 09 3Q 09P
Redundancy 3,180 9,410 12,760 5,980 2,200
Retrenchment 2,350 7,500 10,900 5,170 2,000
Early Release of Contract Workers 830 1,910 1,860 810 200

P: Preliminary estimates

Data may not add up due to rounding

Redundancies in manufacturing fell sharply to 700 from 2,900 in the second quarter of 2009. Services laid off 1,300 workers, also lower than the 2,850 in the preceding quarter. Another 200 were displaced from the construction sector.
Table 2.2: Redundancy by Sector

3Q 08 4Q 08 1Q 09 2Q 09 3Q 09P
Total* 3,180 9,410 12,760 5,980 2,200
Manufacturing 2,260 5,170 9,250 2,900 700
Construction 130 390 330 230 200
Services 790 3,810 3,170 2,850 1,300

P: Preliminary estimates

*: Total includes agriculture, fishing, quarrying, utilities and sewerage & waste management
Data may not add up due to rounding

Unemployment

Preliminary estimates show that the seasonally adjusted overall unemployment rate rose slightly to 3.4% in September 2009 from 3.3% in June 2009. Among the resident labour force, the rate increased to 5.0% in September 2009. This followed the decline from 4.8% in March 2009 to 4.6% in June 2009, when some residents then had deferred job search and pursued courses amid the difficult job market. The unemployment rates were still below the peak (overall: 4.8%; resident: 6.2%) experienced in September 2003 (due to the SARS outbreak).
Table 3 : Unemployment Rate

Sep 08 Dec 08 Mar 09 Jun 09 Sep 09P
Seasonally Adjusted
Overall (%) 2.3 2.5 3.3 3.3 3.4
Resident (%) 3.4 3.6 4.8 4.6 5.0

Non-Seasonally Adjusted
Overall (%) 1.9 2.4 3.0 4.1 2.9
Resident (%) 2.8 3.5 4.4 5.9 4.1
P: Preliminary estimates


On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, the overall unemployment rate decreased from 4.1% in June 2009 to 2.9% in September 2009, as students who looked for work during the mid-year school vacation have returned to school and this year's tertiary graduates have started to secure employment. Nevertheless, the rate was higher than 1.9% in September 2008. Among the resident labour force, the non-adjusted unemployment rate was 4.1% in September 2009, also lower than 5.9% in June 2009 but higher than 2.8% in September 2008. An estimated 83,800 residents were unemployed in September 2009. The seasonally adjusted figure was 100,300.

More Information

Information on data sources and coverage as well as definitions of key concepts used in the report can be found in the attached Explanatory Notes . The preliminary data estimates are available online at the Ministry of Manpower's website. A more detailed breakdown of the preliminary estimates will be released in the Economic Survey of Singapore, Third Quarter 2009.

The above is a statistical release of the Manpower Research and Statistics Department of the Ministry.
Upcoming Publications

The Ministry's Manpower Research and Statistics Department will be releasing the full report on the Labour Market, Third Quarter 2009 on 15 December 2009.