Singapore mandates firms to notify worker layoffs

All firms in Singapore with at least 10 staff will have to notify the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) of all layoffs from November 1, regardless of the number of employees retrenched. 

Currently, employers are only required to notify MOM when they retrench five or more workers within six months. 

“We want to help workers who may be retrenched — to intervene earlier, to help them pivot to a new job, to provide career counselling,” said Senior Minister of State for Manpower Koh Poh Koon, reports Business Times. 

“Going forward, as [the] industry continues to transform, there will be an impact on job redesign and business model change. Therefore, there will be some degree of change within the workforce construct within each and every company,” he said. 

“COVID-19, of course, has created additional impact in the midst of all these transformative disruptive technology changes that affect the global economy,” he added.

Singapore’s unemployment rate rose in July, ending eight straight months of improvement following tighter COVID-19-led restrictions. 

READ: Singapore’s unemployment rate edges up by 0.2% in July

The resident unemployment rate increased from 3.5% to 3.7%, while the citizen unemployment rate rose from 3.7% to 3.9%. Altogether, 87,300 residents were unemployed in July, of which 77,200 were citizens.