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|
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Amid the slowdown in economic growth, employment
continued to grow in the first quarter but the increase has moderated against
the robust pace last year. |
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Total employment rose by 16,900, about half of the
seasonally high gains of 32,700 in the fourth quarter of 2004. |
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Nonetheless, this was higher than the growth of
13,700 in the first quarter last year, supported by a turnaround in
construction employment. |
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The services sector still contributed a
significant share of the job gains, although its employment growth at 9,900
was lower than the increase of 11,400 in the first quarter of 2004. |
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Employment creation in manufacturing also
moderated to 5,500, after posting gains of more than 6,000 in each of the four
quarters last year. |
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Construction, on the other hand, added 1,500
workers compared to a reduction of 3,600 workers in the same period last year.
The rise in construction employment was the first quarterly increase in four
and a half years. |
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The seasonally adjusted overall unemployment ratep
rose to 3.9% in March 2005, from 3.7% three months back. The corresponding
resident rate was 4.4% and 4.0%. |
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Despite the rise, unemployment in March remained
below the 4.5% (overall) and 5.2% (resident) a year ago. An estimated 68,800
residents were unemployed in March 2005. The seasonally adjusted figure was
81,300. |
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While unemployment increased marginally,
retrenchments moderated and re-employment rose to its highest in slightly over
a year. Layoffs1 dropped by 27% from 2,962 in the first quarter
2004 to 2,168 in the first quarter this year. The decline was greater compared
with the previous quarter¡¯s 3,207. |
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The re-employment rate of retrenched locals also
improved, with 68% of those retrenched in the fourth quarter 2004 finding
re-employment by March 2005 (within 6 months after retrenchment). This was
significantly higher than the 57% experienced by the previous cohort in
December 2004, due mainly to an improvement in the re-employment of mature
workers. |
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Job openings among private sector establishments
rose to 17,5001 in March 2005, 14% higher than the same period a year ago
(15,400). |
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Compared to December 2004, the number of job
vacancies was 7.9% higher. However, excluding seasonal influences, March¡¯s job
vacancies were broadly unchanged from December¡¯s. |
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Coupled with the rise in job seekers, the
seasonally adjusted ratio of job vacancy to unemployed persons fell from 41 in
December to 36p job openings for every 100 job seekers in March 2005. |
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For More Information |
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The report is available online on the Ministry of
Manpower¡¯s website at
http://www.mom.gov.sg/mrsd/publication. |
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p preliminary |
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1 Data pertain to private sector
establishments each with at least 25 employees. |
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More..... (Charts) |
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Source:
www.mom.gov.sg Press Release 15 Jun
2005 |
Singapore Labour Market Report - 1st Quarter 2005
