Singapore Job Vacancies Fall Marginally In Q2, Says MOM
SINGAPORE – The Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM) latest Labour Market Report showed that job vacancies declined slightly, while retrenchments dropped to a record low in Q2 as businesses here filled more positions, reported The Business Times on Wednesday morning (14 September, SGT).
In June 2022, the number of job vacancies fell slightly to 126,100 after increasing for seven straight quarters, but it remained at “historical high levels”. Despite the decline in job vacancies, the ratio of job vacancies to unemployed individuals increased a bit to 2.53 as unemployment rates continued to fall.
In the 2nd quarter, retrenchments fell to 990 from 1,320 in the prior quarter. While the proportion of retrenched residents who re-entered employment within 6 months dropped to 66 percent from 72 percent in the preceding 3-month period, it was still better than the 64 percent seen in the same period in 2021.
Although Singapore’s jobs market remains tight, layoffs in other countries and possible recession in the US could lead to a drop in labour market demand “sooner than we think,” said Permanent Secretary for Manpower Ng Chee Khern.
Meanwhile, MOM revealed that overall employment in Singapore, excluding migrant domestic workers, increased by 108,500 in H1 2022 and rebounded to around pre-pandemic levels in June 2022.
“The increase was mainly contributed by non-residents, particularly in construction and manufacturing, as employers backfilled positions following the significant relaxation of border controls in April 2022,” said the Ministry.
Non-resident employment grew at all work pass types. The lion’s share came from holders of work permit and other work passes, which increased by 80,900. S-Pass holders also grew by 7,400, while Employment Pass holders climbed by 7,100.
However, non-resident employment rates are still 10 percent below pre-pandemic levels, said Ng.
“This is mainly because there are still a few sectors that are significantly below [pre-COVID levels].” For instance, tourism-related sectors of food and beverage, accommodation, as well as arts and recreation are 20 percent, 40 percent, and 50 percent below pre-pandemic levels respectively.
“With the significant easing of Singapore’s Covid-19 restrictions, business activities in sectors which had been badly affected by the pandemic are recovering. We expect non-resident employment to continue to grow at a robust pace as it catches up to its pre-pandemic level, which will ease labour market tightness,” added MOM.
