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Source:
www.mom.gov.sg |
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LABOUR MARKET 2006: |
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Total employment creation for
2006 an all-time high |
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The strong economy generated record
employment gains which led to an improvement in the unemployment rate to
an eight-year low in 2006. |
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Total employment creation for the whole of
2006 rose to an all-time high of 176,000, surpassing the previous year¨s
gains of 113,300. This brought the total number employed to 2,495,900
persons as at December 06. |
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The seasonally adjusted overall
unemployment rate was 2.6% in December 06, a slight decline from
2.7% in September 06. |
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Despite the recent increase in
resident labour supply1, the resident unemployment rate
held steady at 3.6% (seasonally adjusted) since June 06, but is
slightly higher than 3.4% in December 05. |
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An estimated 69,600 residents were
unemployed in December 06. The seasonally adjusted figure was
68,600. |
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For the whole year of 2006,
unemployment averaged 2.7% (overall) and 3.6% (resident), a
significant improvement from 3.1% (overall) and 4.1% (resident) in
2005 and the high of 4.0% (overall) and 5.2% (resident)
experienced during the economic slowdown in 2003. The last time
that unemployment was lower was in 1998. |
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On average, 67,500 residents were
unemployed in 2006, down from 74,900 in 2005 and the high of
91,200 in 2003. |
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Slightly over one fifth (22% or
15,100) of unemployed residents had been looking for work for at
least 25 weeks, resulting in a long-term unemployment rate of 0.8%
in December 06. |
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While this is slightly higher than
0.7% in December 05, the long-term unemployment rate is
significantly lower than the 1.2 to 1.5% recorded in 2001 to 2004
for December periods. |
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Private sector establishments, each
with at least 25 employees, laid-off 12,359 workers in 2006. While
this exceeded the 10,294 laid-off in 2005, it is only about half
the number retrenched in 2001 (25,838). |
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Among retrenched residents, an average
of 66% secured re-employment within 6 months after retrenchment in
2006. This is the highest registered in the post-Asian crisis
period and significantly above the 61% in 2005. |
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Buoyed by sustained economic growth,
the private sector registered 28,400 job openings in December 06,
a considerable jump of 43% from a year ago (19,800)2.
This also marked an increase of 10% over the quarter (25,700),
contrary to the usual seasonal decline in vacancies expected at
the end of the year. |
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Labour productivity rose by 1.2% in
2006, down from 2.1% in 2005. The moderation was due to stronger
employment creation compared to the previous year, as employers
expanded their headcount to cope with current and anticipated
increase in output. |
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Following the moderation in
productivity gains, the overall unit labour cost (ULC) fell by a
smaller 0.5% in 2006 than the 1.4% drop a year ago. |
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In summary, the sustained economic
growth has led to record high job creation and a reduction in the
unemployment rate to an eight-year low in 2006. While productivity
still grew, the gains continued to moderate for the second
consecutive year. |
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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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1 The resident labour supply is estimated to have
risen by 96,300 in 2006, up from 51,200 in 2005 and an average of
32,900 per year from 2000 to 2004.
2 Data pertain to private sector establishments
each with at least 25 employees. |
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Source:
www.mom.gov.sg Press Release
15 Mar 2007 |
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FrontPage Edition: Fri 16 March 2007
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