Job vacancies, unemployed numbers rise in Singapore

Labour market remains tight as vacancies outnumber job seekers, says MOM

- Tay Hong Yi

The number of job vacancies in Singapore increased in March even as the number of unemployed people inched up, as a mixed picture emerged from the latest quarterly report on the labour market.

Still, the labour market remains tight as there are more vacancies available than there are job seekers, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said in its report of finalised labour market data for the first quarter of 2024.

There were 81,900 vacancies recorded in March 2024, up from 79,800 in December 2023.

"This reflects the improved economic prospects in 2024," MOM said.

Job vacancies in growth sectors, which are associated with higher productivity and pay, formed nearly one-third of all job vacancies. They include those in health and social services, information and communications, professional services, and financial and insurance services.

Although the number of job vacancies rose, the ratio of job vacancies to unemployed people declined from 1.74 in December 2023 to 1.56 in March 2024, owing to a slight increase in the number of unemployed people, MOM said.

The ratio has decreased consistently since the high of 2.54 in June 2022, it added.

Meanwhile, retrenchments declined for the second consecutive quarter, from 3,460 in the fourth quarter of 2023 to 3,030 in the first quarter of 2024.

The incidence of retrenchment in the first quarter of 2024 reached 1.3 per 1,000 employees, down from the 1.9 per 1,000 employees in the third quarter of 2023.

MOM noted that this was lower than pre-pandemic levels, as the quarterly average for 2015 to 2019 was 1.7 per 1,000 employees.

The ministry said the fall in retrenchments was driven by declines in the number retrenched from outward-oriented sectors such as wholesale trade and electronics manufacturing.