Singapore’s jobless rate continues to fall

The unemployment rate for residents fell to 3.2% from 3.4% month-on-month, while that for citizens decreased to 3.5% from 3.6%.

“This indicates that our labour market is recovering steadily, with the economy rebounding from the recession in 2020 and GDP growing by 7.2% last year,” said manpower minister Tan See Leng in a Facebook post recently.

“The increase in group sizes for dining out and the opening of more vaccinated travel lanes have allowed sectors hardest-hit by  COVID-19 such as food and beverage services and air transport to begin ramping up capacity again. We expect hiring demand in domestic sectors to pick up with gradual relaxation of community measures,” said Dr Tan.

There were 76,600 unemployed residents in November, of whom 70,200 were citizens. This was down from 80,000 unemployed residents in October, including 72,200 citizens. 

The unemployment rates for November are the lowest since March 2020, when the rates for overall unemployment was 2.5%, resident unemployment was 3.5%, and citizen unemployment was 3.6%, according to The Business Times.

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Dr Tan said the road to recovery “is still an uneven one” and that it will be paved with uncertainties. “With the spread of the Omicron variant throughout the world, it is likely that Singapore will see a new wave of cases in the coming weeks. Businesses and workers need to be adaptable and flexible as the COVID-19 situation changes,” he added.