SINGAPORE – Resident employment continued to rise for the second consecutive quarter in the fourth quarter of last year, leading to an overall rebound to pre-Covid-19 levels by the end of last year, according to latest manpower statistics.
But total employment – the number of workers in jobs – contracted in the same period by 13,500 workers, mainly due to a continued decline in non-resident employment, said the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) which released its advanced estimates for the labour market in the fourth quarter of last year.
Meanwhile, non-resident employment contracted by around 16 per cent, accounting for all of the total employment contraction of 172,200 last year, said MOM on Thursday (Jan 28).
The total employment contraction in 2020 was also the most severe in two decades.
The unemployment situation also continued to ease, with rates declining for the second consecutive month in December compared with the previous month.
Last year, the unemployment rate for the resident workforce was 4.1 per cent and 3 per cent for overall workforce, compared with 3.1 per cent and 2.3 per cent respectively in 2019.
On the whole, the overall unemployment rate for the whole of 2020 was higher than 2019 but remained below past recessionary peaks.
Retrenchments slowing down
The number of retrenchments declined for the first time in the fourth quarter of 2020 to 6,100, after five consecutive quarters of increases.
For 2020, retrenchments rose sharply to 26,570, higher than the peak during the 2009 global financial crisis, which saw 23,430 retrenchments.
This brought full-year retrenchment numbers last year to the highest in two decades, since the 2001 recession due to the dot.com bust.
The bulk of retrenchments last year occurred mainly in the sectors of arts, entertainment and recreation, wholesale trade as well as air transport services.
However, when taking into the account the bigger size of the current workforce, the incidence of retrenchment for 2020 was lower than past recessions, at 13 retrenched per 1,000 employees, MOM said.
During the severe acute respiratory syndrome, or Sars, outbreak in 2003, this was about 16 retrenched per 1,000 employees, and during the 2009 global financial crisis, this was about 14 retrenched per 1,000 employees.
MOM said it remains to be seen if the reduction in overall retrenchments in the fourth quarter of 2020 will continue this year.
“For example, retrenchments are expected to rise in air transport services due to the ongoing travel restrictions, while business transformation in other sectors may result in further displacements,” said the ministry.