Singapore’s unemployment rate falls to 2.7% in August

This was disclosed by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), which said both the resident unemployment rate and citizen employment rate also fell by 0.1 percentage point to 3.6% and 3.8%, respectively in August month-on-month.

For August, there were 84,400 unemployed residents, of whom 75,800 were citizens. From July 22 to August 18, Singapore was under a Phase 2 (Heightened Alert), when restrictions were in place to combat the spread of COVID-19.

Manpower minister Tan See Leng said in a Facebook post that Singapore’s unemployment situation over the longer term continues to show a gradual recovery despite the slight increase in July.

Singapore’s unemployment rate rose briefly in July to 2.8%, ending an eight-month improvement trend after it peaked in September last year.

“We do not take this for granted – we are still closely monitoring the public health situation. Recovery is expected to be uneven across sectors, and the domestically-oriented sectors will likely continue to be impacted by COVID-19,” Tan said.

July’s data may be attributable to a “knee-jerk reaction” to the announcement of Singapore’s reversion to Phase 2 (Heightened Alert), said OCBC chief economist Selena Ling.

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“I expect that the unemployment rate may ‘bounce’ around these levels for a bit as businesses and consumers grapple with the stabilisation-period measures in September and October as well, amid the uptick in COVID cases, but the overall direction should still be a gradual improvement going into end-2021 and into 2022,” she said, according to The Business Times.