Singaporean jobless rate rises slightly in Q3 2018

Singaporean jobless rate rose slightly in the third quarter. On a year-on-year basis, the unemployment rate rose to 2.1 percent in the September quarter from 2 percent in the second quarter. However, this reflects the continued inflow of jobseekers into the labor market, noted Selena Ling, Head of Treasury Research & Strategy, OCBC Bank. The resident and citizen jobless rates were also the same at 2.9 percent and 3 percent respectively.

Excluding foreign domestic works, total employment rebounded for the fourth straight quarter and more than doubled from 6.5k in the second quarter to 15.2k in the third quarter of 2018. More significantly, the rebound was widespread and led by the services sector which contributed 12.3k jobs.

Moreover, manufacturing also added 3.5k jobs for the first time after 15 straight quarters of declines and whilst construction employment added to decline by 400, this was at a slower rate than the 700 in the second quarter 2018. Furthermore, retrenchments dropped from 3.03k in the second quarter to 2.5k in the third quarter, and compared to 3.4k per year ago. In the midst of the economic restructuring attempts, the services sector added to the bulk of the retrenchments, while manufacturing and construction chalked up 800 and 200 respectively.

Job opportunities are expected to be driven by services sectors like info-communications and media, finance and insurance, healthcare and professional services. The job vacancy rate rose. The Ministry of Manpower also cautioned that “as the labor market begins to tighten, employers may face greater challenges filling vacancies”.

“This reinforces the tightness of the domestic labour market which may sustain wage growth going into 2019 and help underpin core inflationary pressures if businesses pass on the higher wage costs to consumers”, added Selena Ling, Head of Treasury Research & Strategy, OCBC Bank.