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The labour market remained tight in the fourth quarter of 2024 with more job vacancies than unemployed persons, of which 70% were jobs filled by residents, according to MOM.
Singapore's Ministry of Manpower has released data on the labour market for the final quarter of 2024, showing strong economic performance and positive business sentiments as it saw the total employment (resident and non-resident) growth by 44,500.
Looking deeper into one of the two different categories under total employment, resident employment increased by 8,800 which reversed the decline of 4,600 in 2023. It was noted that more residents were employed in higher-skilled sectors under the following areas:
Financial & insurance services - 5,300
Health & social work - 5,200
Professional services - 5,000
Information & communications - 4,200
On the other hand, residents who were employed in lower-skilled sectors fell in the sectors of food & beverage services and administrative & support services, with 2,100 and 700 respectively.
Looking at non-resident employment growth, the increment slowed down from 83,500 to 35,700 between 2023 and 2024. Although the increase might have been lower than the year before, the overall increment was contributed by mostly Work Permit holders who worked blue-collar jobs that residents were less likely to take. Other work passes such as the Employment pass (EP) and S Pass holders continued to hold a steady growth in 2024.
Following this positive trend, unemployment rates also remained low and stable in December 2024 with an overall of 1.9%.
Overall, the labour market remained tight in the fourth quarter of 2024 with more job vacancies than unemployed persons at 1.64 job vacancies for every unemployed person in December 2024. Of this, 70% of the vacancies were jobs filled by residents.
Retrenchment rates
The number of retrenchments increased from 3,050 in Q3 2024 to 3,680 in Q4 2024 where the Financial & Insurance Services sector suffered the most due to high cost. Following this increase, the number of employees placed on short work-week or temporary layoff also rose to 660 but still remained at a low number of less than 1,000 at pre-pandemic levels. Although results show that retrenchment rate increased quarterly, the total number of retrenchments were still lower as a whole of 2024 compared to the previous year.
Among the retrenched residents, the rate of re-entry into the workforce within six months fell slightly from 60.4% in Q3 2024 to 58.1% in Q4 2024.
Future projections
Looking ahead at Singapore’s economy in 2025, it is projected to have an expansion of 1% to 3% which is slightly slower than the 4.4% growth recorded in 2024. This is attributed to the ongoing global trade frictions and political disruptions to the global disinflation process. The growth of the economy is expected to be mainly supported by continued expansions in the manufacturing and outward-oriented services sector.
In the long run, resident employment growth will gradually moderate out given Singapore’s existing high labour force participation rate and slowing resident workforce growth.
With that, the government will support employers to keep businesses running and transform the workforce. The government will also continue to empower Singaporeans to strengthen career health, compete strongly in the economy and work towards their career aspirations.
Various resources and initiatives have been put in place to assist employers and workers such as the following:
- 17 Job Transformation Maps (JTM) launched by Workforce Singapore (WSG) providing actionable insights on the impact of technology and automation on businesses and jobs.
- New Budget 2025 announcement - SkillsFuture Workforce Development Grant (WDG) to support mid-career workers to undergo industry-recognised training.
- Leverage support provided for job redesign under the Productivity Solutions Grant (PSG-JR) to redesign jobs in anticipation of change and make them more productive and attractive to jobseekers.
- Tap on the CareersFinder feature on WSG’s MyCareersFuture job portal to explore career options that make use of their skills and experience, and pathways to reach their career goals. Career coaching and guidance services are also made available for those who need it.
- Opportunities for career development expansion will be given to more Singaporen professionals. Current programmes like WSG’s Overseas Markets Immersion Programme supports companies to send more Singaporean employees with little to no overseas experience for overseas postings to acquire valuable exposure and experience, while supporting international business growth.
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