Employment Situation in Fourth Quarter 2007

Employment creation hits another record high, bringing unemployment rate down to its lowest in a decade

Employment

The strong economy led to another record-breaking year for employment creation in 2007. Preliminary estimates show that employment grew by 64,200 in the fourth quarter of 2007, considerably higher than the gains of 51,500 in the same period a year ago and 58,600 in the third quarter of 2007. This brought total employment creation in the whole of 2007 to 236,600, far surpassing the 176,000 in 2006.

2. All major sectors registered employment growth in 2007. The services sector saw the largest employment gains of 144,100, boosted by rapid increase in hirings across a wide range of industries led by financial and professional services. The booming construction sector added 40,900 workers, double the increase in 2006. Manufacturing employment rose by 49,400, supported by strong manpower demand in marine and offshore engineering.

Table 1.1: Employment

(In Thousands)

^P: Preliminary estimates

^*: Total includes agriculture, fishing, quarrying, utilities and sewerage & waste management

Data may not add up due to rounding

3. Both locals and foreigners benefited from the strong job creation. Local employment grew by 92,100 in 2007, slightly more than the gains of 90,900 in 2006. This is the third successive year that local employment creation has set new record highs. Given the limits to the growth of Singapore's indigenous workforce and the larger base of jobs created, the local share of total employment created dropped from 52% in 2006 to 39% in 2007, even though the absolute gains in employment taken up by locals increased over the period.

4. Foreign employment rose by a new high of 144,500 in 2007, enabling the economy to grow beyond the limits of Singapore's indigenous workforce. As at December 2007, there were 900,800 foreigners forming one in three (33%) of the 2.73 million persons employed in Singapore. The majority or two thirds (67% or 1.83 million) of the workforce were locals.

Table 1.2: Employment (Annual)

(In Thousands)

^P: Preliminary estimates

Locals also known as residents refer to Singapore citizens and permanent residents

Data may not add up due to rounding

Retrenchment

5. Preliminary findings show that 1,500 workers were retrenched in the fourth quarter of 2007, lower than the 1,827 retrenched in the previous quarter and only around half the 3,215 retrenched in the same quarter a year ago.

6. Of every ten workers retrenched in the quarter, six were from the manufacturing sector (900), reflecting the on-going restructuring in the electronics industry. The remaining four were laid off from the services sector (600).

Table 2.1: Retrenchment (Quarterly)

^P: Preliminary estimates

^*: Total includes agriculture, fishing, quarrying, utilities and sewerage & waste management.

‘-‘: nil or negligible

7. Retrenchment is at its lowest in 14 years. For the whole of 2007, 7,200 workers were retrenched, substantially lower than 12,603 in 2006. Manufacturing formed the bulk of retrenchments (4,900), followed by services (2,300).

Table 2.2: Retrenchment (Annual)

^P: Preliminary estimates

^*: Total includes agriculture, fishing, quarrying, utilities and sewerage & waste management.

‘-‘: nil or negligible

Prior to 2006, data pertain to private sector establishments each with at least 25 employees. From 2006 onwards, data also include the public sector.

Unemployment

8. Supported by robust job creation, the unemployment rate dropped to a decade low, comparable to pre-Asian crisis levels. The seasonally adjusted overall unemployment rate dipped further to 1.6% in December 2007 from 1.7% in September 2007. The resident unemployment rate remained at a low of 2.3%, unchanged from a quarter ago.

9. An estimated 45,200 residents were unemployed in December 2007. The seasonally adjusted figure was 45,600.

Table 3.1: Unemployment Rate (Quarterly)

^P: Preliminary estimates

10. For the whole year of 2007, overall unemployment rate averaged 2.1%, down significantly from 2.7% in 2006 and 3.1% in 2005. Similarly, the resident unemployment rate fell to 3.0% in 2007 from 3.6% in 2006 and 4.1% in 2005. Both the overall and resident unemployment rates in 2007 are at their lowest in a decade. On average, 56,900 residents were unemployed in 2007, down from 67,600 in 2006 and the high of 91,200 in 2003.

Table 3.2: Unemployment Rate (Annual)

^{P: Preliminary estimates}

Annual figures are the simple averages of the unemployment figures obtained at quarterly intervals.

For More Information

11. Information on data sources and coverage, as well as definitions of key concepts used in the report is in the attached Explanatory Notes. The preliminary data estimates are available online at the Ministry of Manpower's website. A more detailed breakdown of the preliminary estimates will be released in the Economic Survey of Singapore, 2007.

12. The above is a statistical release of the Manpower Research and Statistics Department of the Ministry.

Upcoming Publications

13. The Ministry's Manpower Research and Statistics Department will be releasing the report on the Labour Market, 2007 on 14 March 2008.