Growth of Singapore’s employment market expected to slow down

Singapore’s employment market has continued to improve over Q3’2022, although retrenchments, mostly from the tech sector, inched up slightly from the previous quarter.

Total employment expanded by 75,900 in the third quarter, exceeding the 66,500 registered in the previous quarter, and is now 1.7% above 2019’s level. Non-resident employment rose by 71,100, while resident employment went up by 4,800, reported the Ministry of Manpower (MOM).

The increase in foreign workers stemmed largely from manufacturing and construction, while resident employment growth was led by sectors like financial services, professional services, accommodation, as well as information and communications.

With rising total employment and amid uncertain economic outlooks, the total number of job vacancies fell in September to 108,200. However, this is still significantly higher than the pre-pandemic level of 52,900 job vacancies in 2019, said MOM.

Correspondingly, the ratio of job vacancies to unemployed persons fell to 2.2, with the bulk of roles in manufacturing and construction, and the services industries, which include information & communications, financial services, professional services, as well as health and social services.

However, with uncertainties in the economic outlook, MOM has cautioned that the momentum in the growth of Singapore’s labour market is likely to be stalled in the coming months.

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Writing in a Facebook post, Manpower Minister Tan See Leng said, “I encourage employers and workers to make full use of Government programmes to accelerate the pace of transformation to remain competitive and resilient as we look forward to a continued positive labour market outlook in the new year ahead.”