Retrenchments fell to 2,320 in Q2

Retrenchments amongst production and related workers shrank to 340 from 1,350.

Retrenchments dropped to 2,320 in Q2 2019 both QoQ (3,230) and YoY (3,030), according to a report by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM).

The decline was particularly observed as the number of retrenchments in production and related works fell from 1,350 to 340 and also dipped from 440 to 290 for clerical, sales and service workers.

On the other hand, layoffs rose amongst professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) to 1,680 from 1,440. This makes up 77% of locals retrenched.

Also read: Retrenchments grew to 3,230 in Q1 over manufacturing cutbacks

About 72% of retrenchments in the quarter were from the services sector. Amongst them, the biggest proportion come from wholesale trade (19%), followed by financial services (17%) then professional services (11%).

In the first half of the year, total employment excluding foreign domestic workers grew by 16,900, from 6,900 YoY, whilst the increase in local employment dropped 5,300 from 6,500 the previous year.

Total employment grew by 6,200 in Q2, but has slowed down over the past three quarters. The bulk of the growth came from the service sector with 5,400, though this was at its lowest since Q3 2016.

Employment climbed in professional services by 2,100, information and communications by 2,000, community, social and personal services by 1,900, and financial and insurance services by 1,600. However, retail trade saw a decline of 2,900.

Construction sector employment expanded by 2,700 whilst manufacturing posted another contraction for the third consecutive time by 1,500.

On the other hand, the seasonally-adjusted number of job vacancies went down to 47,700 in June from 57,000 in March. The ratio of job vacancies to unemployed persons dipped to 0.94, similar to that of December 2017.

Over half (59%) came from PMETs, followed by clerical, sales and service (23%) and production and related (18%).

The six-month re-entry rate among retrenched residents dropped to 60% from 66% in the previous quarter. This is similar to the 61% rate posted in Q1 2018.

Reaching the people who run Asia's businesses is harder than it used to be.

Inboxes are crowded. Attention is short. The executives you most want to reach — the founders, CFOs, and operators who actually move budgets — are the hardest to find through the usual channels. If you're building a company, a category, or a reputation, you already know this.

We've spent twenty years building the room they read. Singapore Business Review is where senior decision makers in Singapore and across Southeast Asia come for business coverage they can't get elsewhere — in print, online, and in person at the summits and roundtables we host across seven markets.

If you have something these readers should know about — a point of view worth publishing, a product worth their attention, an event worth their time — we'd like to hear what you're trying to do.

Book a meeting

| Or download the media kit (PDF)

240,000 senior readers quarterly in print Top 1,700 Singapore companies reached

7 markets across Southeast Asia