Information, communications tops retrenchment rate ranking

Finance and retail are also among the hardest hit.

Information and communications recorded the highest retrenchment rate amongst Singapore industries in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to a study by Briefcase Index.

The firm put the sector’s retrenchment rate at 0.270%, ahead of financial and insurance services at 0.222% and wholesale and retail trade at 0.173%.

Briefcase Index said the information and communications rate was about 2.4 times the average across the industries in its ranking.

Professional services ranked fourth with a retrenchment rate of 0.144%, followed by manufacturing at 0.116%.

Transportation and storage, real estate services, and administrative and support services posted lower rates of 0.068%, 0.052%, and 0.051%, respectively.

Accommodation and food services and construction had the lowest retrenchment rates in the top 10 at 0.026% and 0.025%, respectively.

Briefcase Index said the figures point to sharper workforce adjustment in some higher-value and white-collar sectors.

The platform said it built the ranking using Singapore Department of Statistics data on retrenched employees by industry, employment by sector, and quarterly changes in employment.

Retrenchment rates were calculated by dividing the number of employees retrenched in each industry in the fourth quarter of 2025 by total employment in that industry in the same period.