Total employment saw a modest expansion in the first quarter of 2021, a first since the same period of 2019. Growth in resident employment outpaced the decline in non-resident employment.
Meanwhile, retrenchments numbers have also declined for the second consecutive quarter, and unemployment rates – though elevated – have eased slightly by 0.1 per centage point.
These were the main findings by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) in their Labour Market Advanced Release (LMAR) issued on 28 April 2021.
The bulk of the employment increases in the first quarter were in services industries, filled primarily by residents. Within services, sectors such as infocomms, financial and professional services saw continued employment expansion.
Taking to Facebook, NTUC Assistant Secretary-General Patrick Tay posted that while he was heartened and encouraged by the numbers in the LMAR, he remains quietly optimistic as Singapore is still in a pandemic.
He said: “Although the Monetary Authority of Singapore gave a very positive economic growth forecast this morning for 2021, I think the caveat is that the unemployment rates are still relatively higher than prior to the pandemic. Likewise, the deeply and deeper affected sectors like aviation, aerospace, travel and tourism and even hospitality continue to face exacting pressures with the very gradual resumption of air travel.”
Mr Tay added that it will be important to pay close attention to how the pandemic pans out for the rest of the year.
“Employers and workers alike will need to continue to double down our efforts in reskilling, upskilling so as to prepare and pivot in the next normal,” he said.
Since its peak in September 2020, unemployment rates have steadily declined over the past two quarters. However, unemployment rates are still elevated compared to pre-COVID-19 times.
Overall unemployment rate fell from 3 per cent down to 2.9 per cent, with both resident and citizen unemployment rates seeing a dip of 0.1 per cent, from 4.1 to 4 per cent and 4.3 to 4.2 respectively.
Retrenchments are also expected to decline, from 2.8 retrenched per 1,000 employees as seen in the last quarter of 2020 to 1.1 per 1,000 employees in this first quarter.
Even though retrenchments have fallen, pockets of job displacements are to be expected due to companies’ on-going restructuring and re-organisation.
