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SINGAPORE: Singapore's total employment has grown for the first time this year.
The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said that it grew by 15,400 in the third quarter. Total employment had shrunk by 6,200 in the first quarter and 7,700 in the second quarter.
Nevertheless, the gains were significantly lower than the 55,700 gained in the third quarter of last year.
Employment within the services sector grew substantially compared to the first two quarters. The sector hired some 13,400 workers. The construction sector also continued to add workers.
Job creation, the labour movement said, has been fuelled by measures like SPUR and the Jobs Credit Scheme. But it is still unclear if the recovery in the job market is sustainable.
NTUC deputy secretary-general, Halimah Yacob, said: "We hope it will not be a W-shaped recovery. We are optimistic, but with a heavy dose of caution because we know that a true recovery only depends on the US economy generating the demand.
"The US unemployment... is quite high. So, how is that going to impact on demand in the medium term next year, for instance the first two quarters, we really don't know. We have to watch out for that."
For now, retrenchments have slowed down. The manufacturing sector continued to shed workers for the fourth consecutive quarter, but MOM said that the decline was substantially lower than in the first two quarters this year.
Just 2,200 workers were laid off in the third quarter compared to nearly 6,000 in the second quarter. According to preliminary estimates, 2,000 workers were retrenched and 200 contracts were terminated prematurely.
As for the overall unemployment rate, it rose slightly to 3.4 percent in September from 3.3 percent in June. Among the resident labour force, the rate increased to 5 percent. But observers said this could be because more people are joining the labour market.
Jonas Ang, Kelly Services' vice-president of human resource (Asia Pacific), said: "Job seekers will still face stiff competition, because of the uneven growth across all the sectors. So we can expect that supply and demand are still not on equal footing at this point of time."
Observers added that workers are now starting to look out for new opportunities because they are "more confident about moving now than they were a few months ago", said Andreas Ross, managing director of Robert Walters.
At least one recruitment agency said that contract-based jobs are still widely available.
- CNA/ir
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