Singapore’s labour market performed better in 3Q 2021, compared to the preceding quarter.
However, recovery has remained uneven across sectors, with resident employment growth in consumer and tourism-related sectors trailing behind outward-oriented sectors.
These were the findings of the Labour Market Report for 3Q 2021 by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), released on 15 December 2021.
The findings closely reflect the flash figures reported by the ministry on 29 October 2021.
Manpower Permanent Secretary Aubeck Kam, while giving his opening remarks of the report, said that MOM expects the labour market to continue its recovery trajectory.
He said: “Recently, MTI announced that economic growth is projected to be around 7 per cent this year, and next year to be between 3 to 5 per cent. So, with that as the backdrop, we are expecting that the labour market will continue to recover in the coming months.”
Although total employment declined due to a continued decrease in non-resident employment, MOM said that resident employment grew faster in the third quarter.
“[One key observation is] increasing tightness in the labour market as demand returns and I think the border restrictions that still remain do play a role in this. We see strong resident employment growth, but this is not enough to offset the significant decline in the non-resident workforce,” said Mr Kam.
Resident employment increased strongly at 19,100, while non-resident employment fell by 21,500 – a pace similar to 2Q 2021.
Resident employment increases were seen in outward-oriented sectors such as Information & Communications, Professional Services and Financial Services.
For domestically-oriented sectors, growth were seen in Administrative & Support Services and Health & Social Services.
Resident employment growth in consumer and tourism-related sectors, however, continued to trail behind the other sectors.
A fall in employment growth was seen in sectors such as Food & Beverage Services and Arts, Entertainment & Recreation, with Accommodation and Retail Trade remaining largely unchanged.
MOM believed that the ongoing border restrictions contributed to the sustained contraction of non-resident employment across most industries.
Unemployment rates continued to improve for the quarter but remained above pre-COVID levels.
Seasonally adjusted unemployment rates declined further between August to September 2021, with overall, resident and citizen unemployment all dropping 0.1 percentage point.
Overall unemployment for 3Q 2021 fell to 2.6 per cent, with resident and citizen dipping to 3.5 per cent and 3.7 per cent respectively.
Incidences of retrenchments fell between 2Q and 3Q 2021, from 1.3 retrenched to 1.1 per 1,000 employees.
The re-entry rate among retrenched residents also improved for the quarter, with 66 per cent of employees getting re-employed within six months from being retrenched, as opposed to 64 per cent in 2Q.
The number of seasonally adjusted job vacancies further increased, albeit slower, between June 2021 and September 2021. Job vacancies between the two periods grew from 92,100 to 98,700.
Together with the decline in unemployed persons, the ratio of job vacancies to unemployed persons trended higher, with 209 job vacancies for every 100 unemployed persons in September 2021, up from 163 in June 2021.
“[The Government will] continue to support our workers to reskill for new jobs and place them to new opportunities through the SGUnited Jobs and Skills package,” said Mr Kam.
NTUC Assistant Secretary-General Patrick Tay said that workers need to be watchful of the structural challenges of skills and job mismatches, which will continue to be one of the main causes of unemployment in Singapore in the coming years.
Taking to facebook, Mr Tay wrote: “With positive economic figures for 2021 forecasted as well as a gradual and incremental recovery of deeply affected sectors…I expect a continued positive outlook going into 2022 from labour market and economic perspectives.
“Notwithstanding, we are not out of the woods yet and there are sectors that have yet to return to pre-pandemic figures. As such, it is still ever important to stay watchful, prepared, and resilient of the uncertainty and of any potential incoming curveballs.”
