Unemployment continues to drop in Singapore

Singapore’s overall unemployment rate continued on a downward trajectory for the fourth consecutive month, dipping to 3% in February from 3.2% in January.

For Singaporeans and permanent residents, the unemployment rate in February fell from 4.3% to 4.1%, while for citizens, the unemployment rate in February fell from 4.5% to 4.3%. In the same month, 96,800 residents remain unemployed, including 85,900 citizens.

Commenting on the “good progress” with jobs growth through schemes such as the Jobs Growth Incentive (JGI), Singapore’s Manpower Minister Josephine Teo wrote in a Facebook post, “It is encouraging to see that government support for employers to expand local hiring has nudged them to consider a more diverse group of job seekers.

“This includes those from different sectors, those who were previously not employed, and those aged 40 and above.”

READ: Singapore government incentive boosts hiring of locals

The latest figures from MOM represent Singapore’s continued recovery from the pandemic, which promoted the country’s sharpest drop in total employment in 2020, when the government introduced its “circuit breaker” measures.

Resident unemployment rate hit 4.8% in September last September and the overall unemployment rate that month was 3.5%.