Some good news for people looking for jobs in Singapore. Recovering fast from the recession, 36,500 jobs have been added and unemployment has been further reduced by 0.1% in the first quarter of 2010 in Singapore.
Ministry of Manpower provides positive news for jobs in Singapore
“The labour market strengthened in the first quarter of 2010, driven by the robust rebound from the economic downturn,” Ministry of Manpower announced today.
The increase in employment remained high for the second consecutive quarter as 37,500 jobs were added in the last quarter of 2009. This is a jump from the negative 6,200 in employment in the first quarter last year. Most (33,400) of the job additions were derived from the services sector, while manufacturing also saw an increase in the second consecutive quarter in which 3,100 jobs were added. Construction saw a slight decline of 400 workers after 20 successive quarters of job additions.
The fourth consecutive quarter increase of 4.3% in job vacancies was seen in March 2010, which was a 63% leap from the first quarter last year. A total of 37,300 jobs were available in the market this year, as compared to 22,900 last year. The seasonally adjusted ratio of job vacancies to unemployed persons also saw improvement for the fourth straight quarter to 0.90 in March 2010 from the low of 0.36 in March 2009.
Unemployment also saw a steady improvement in the first quarter of 2010. On the whole, unemployment went down from 2.3% in December 2009 to 2.2% in March 2010. An estimated 63,300 residents were unemployed in March 2010. The seasonally adjusted figure was 66,200. Unemployed Singaporeans who had been searching for jobs for at least 25 weeks decreased from 16,600 in March 2009 to 14,600 in March 2010.
Retrenchment rate remained at around pre-recessionary levels. A total of 2,400 workers were retrenched in the first quarter of 2010, comparable to 2,200 in the previous quarter and a huge dip from 12,760 in the first quarter of 2009. The rate of re-employment within six months remained high as compared to previous quarters. According to CPF records, half of the Singaporeans retrenched in December 2009 were re-employed by March 2010, whereas 52% were re-employed in December 2009 and 51% in September 2009.
Sources and references: HRO, MOM; Topics: Jobs in Singapore