Retrenchments climb to five-year high as Singapore’s job market keeps growing
- Josephine Tan
- Topics: Home Page - News, Job Cuts, Mobility, News, Singapore
Retrenchments in Singapore rose to their highest level in more than five years in Q2 2026, even as the labour market continued to expand, according to preliminary data released by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM).
Employers let go of 4,500 employees between April and June, up from 3,830 in the first quarter. The 17.5% increase marked the most retrenchments since Q4 2020, when 5,640 employees lost their jobs. MOM attributed the rise to business restructuring, concentrated in outward-oriented sectors such as information and communications and manufacturing.
Hiring, however, held up. Total employment – covering both residents and foreign employees – grew by 10,700 over the quarter, up from 9,400 in the preceding three months and broadly in line with the 10,400 recorded a year earlier. Growth among Singaporeans and permanent residents slowed from the previous quarter and was concentrated in essential and public services, while overall gains were driven largely by foreign hiring in construction and manufacturing.
The unemployment rate held steady at 2% in June, unchanged from the previous quarter.
Employer sentiment pointed to a continued appetite for labour. The share of organisations planning to hire in the next three months rose to 43.9% in June, up from 40.6% in May. Those intending to raise salaries climbed to 29.3% from 23.7% over the same period, while the proportion expecting to retrench employees eased to 2.7% from 3.2%.
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“Overall, the improvement in hiring, wage and retrenchment expectations points to labour demand that remains resilient,” MOM said. It cautioned, though, that while the uptick in hiring and wage sentiment was broad-based across sectors, both indicators stayed below their pre-crisis levels in February – a reference to the energy shock triggered by the Iran war that broke out late that month. This, the ministry said, suggested organisations would likely stay cautious on their hiring and wage decisions in the near term, reported The Straits Times.
