Singapore has jobs, but can retrenched workers get them?
Finding the next role is getting harder, even in a labour market that remains tight on paper
[SINGAPORE] As the perennial joke goes: The only thing worse than having a job is not having one.
With Singapore’s recent labour market report showing retrenchments rising and job vacancies heading in the opposite direction, the punchline might be hitting closer to home for some workers.
The data also indicates an arguably bigger problem than job loss: Finding the next role is getting harder, even in a labour market that remains tight on paper.
Just 54.9 per cent of retrenched residents were back in employment within six months, down from 60.7 per cent. This is despite ample job vacancies, with 1.48 vacancies for every unemployed person in June.
Beyond creating enough jobs, Singapore’s next labour market challenge may be about helping workers move successfully into them.
Part of the problem is a likely mismatch between employer needs and worker skills. A vacancy, even within the same industry, may not be a natural fit for someone whose experience, skills or seniority differ from the role’s requirements.
Companies and the government are already investing in retraining and reskilling, particularly as technology such as artificial intelligence changes the nature of work. Gaps could remain between jobseekers and openings.
The issue could be more pressing for older workers. While fresh-graduate employment has garnered considerable public attention, older workers faced a higher incidence of retrenchments in the second quarter. Residents in their 50s had the highest retrenchment incidence among age groups, at 3.6 per 1,000 employees. Those in their 40s came in next, at three for every 1,000.
Only 41.9 per cent of retrenched residents aged 50 to 59 found new employment within six months, down from 51.8 per cent previously.
The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said the data “suggests they are at greater risk of involuntary displacement and may face greater job search challenges”.
Programmes aimed at these problems, from career conversion programmes and job matching to training subsidies, already exist. Outcomes such as re-employment, time to placement and wage changes are tracked.
The next question follows: How successfully are displaced workers making this transition?
Finding another job is just part of the answer. The quality of that next job matters, too.
Do workers have to accept a significant pay cut or lower seniority? Do they end up in less-skilled work?
Tracking and publishing a broader set of outcomes consistently for displaced workers – rather than mainly participants in particular employment-support programmes – could better reflect the quality of the transition.
For instance, these could include changes in pay and rank, and whether workers make comparable use of their skills and experience in the next job.
This will matter more, as tech-driven job transformation accelerates.
The latest MOM figures do not establish AI as a direct cause for rising retrenchments, but the ministry had stated in January 2026 that business restructuring may stem from productivity improvements or work-efficiency gains through AI adoption or other technological advances.
Simply counting the jobs that AI creates or destroys gives an incomplete picture. New roles may emerge, but displaced workers may not be well-placed to fill them.
The test for labour market resilience goes beyond job counts and employment rates. It should also consider how well workers bounce back when they are displaced.
Singapore needs to keep creating tomorrow’s jobs, but also make sure today’s workers can find their way into them.
