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While the unemployment rate has fluctuated between 2.6 to 2.9 per cent for the past five years, it hit 3 per cent for the first time as of June 2016.
This was revealed by Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say when he gave an update on the latest labour market developments in Parliament on 10 October 2016.
Net increase in local employment growth has also continued to slow. From 2012 to 2014, an average of 226,000 locals joined the workforce, with 153,000 leaving each year –an average net increase of 73,000 workers per year during that period.
In 2015, the number of locals entering the workforce dropped by 36,000, while the number of those leaving it increased by 37,000. This resulted in a net increase in local employment of just 700. In the first half of 2016, that number further dropped by 200 to give a net increase of just 500 over the past 18 months.
Labour Movement Efforts
While the figures have not been encouraging, Minister Lim acknowledged the help that Workforce Singapore and NTUC’s e2i (Employment and Employability Institute) have been rendering to workers.
As of August 2016, there were 20,000 active jobseekers. Together with Workforce Singapore, e2i has successfully helped to place more than 13,000 of these workers in sectors such as infocomm technology, healthcare, early childhood care, transport and logistics (read about how e2i helped place two such workers here).
NTUC also has initiatives in place to nurture the workers of tomorrow through their youth membership arms like Young NTUC and nEbO. These programmes have helped youths like Kristina Manik gain valuable skills outside the curriculum (read about her story here).
At the heart of the Labour Movement is its unions helping workers. The United Workers of Electronic & Electrical Industries helped 60-year-old Kwoh Choo Chye through retrenchment. After 20 months of jobseeking, Mr Kwoh secured a job in the public transport industry (read more about his story here).
Source: NTUC This Week
