Jobless rate to stay up

Singapore
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Dec 15, 2009

Jobless rate to stay up

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Significantly fewer workers were made redundant and job vacancies were up for the second straight quarter. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

<!-- story content : start --> DESPITE the encouraging signs of turnaround in the Singapore's job market, the unemployment rate is likely to stay up for some time, said Minister of State for Manpower and Trade and Industry Lee Yi Shyan on Tuesday. The third quarter labour market report released by the Ministry of Manpower on Tuesday showed that overall employment expanded by 14,000 in the third quarter, reversing the losses from the preceding two quarters. Significantly fewer workers were made redundant and job vacancies were up for the second straight quarter. Commenting on the report, Mr Lee said: 'Although the economic outlook has improved and total employment grew in the third quarter, the unemployment rate is likely to stay up for some time as employers remain cautious about the pace and sustainability of recovery.' 'The Government remains focused on job creation and training, while those who are unemployed are encouraged to retrain and re-skill so that they can find a job as quickly as possible.'

Retrain and re-skill only to have jobs taken by cheap ftrash from 3rd world countries?

So you can't be choosy and just have to make do with whatever low paying job you can grab and Lau Bu Si said price of pigeon holes are GOING UP and still affordable. Huat ah!!!

Job market recovering

Singapore
Home > Breaking News > Singapore > Story
Dec 15, 2009

Job market recovering

Employment up, redundancies down with more job openings.

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The improvement in the job situation led to total employment in September recovering to around the level in December last year. -- ST FILE PHOTO

<!-- story content : start --> SINGAPORE'S labour market is showing encouraging signs of a turnaround, reflecting the improving economic climate. Total employment grew by 14,000 in the third quarter, offsetting the losses in the earlier two quarters, which saw jobs growing by 6,200 in Q1 and 7,700 in Q2. The improvement in the job situation led to total employment in September recovering to around the level in December last year, said the Ministry of Manpower in a statement on Tuesday. Service jobs grew by 12,700, significantly higher than the gains of 3,800 in the second quarter, while construction, which added 7,400 jobs, expanded at a faster pace than in the previous quarter. But manufacturing shed 6,400 workers for the fourth consecutive quarter, although the losses were substantially lower than in the first two quarters.

The seasonally adjusted overall unemployment rate rose slightly to 3.4 per cent in September from 3.3 per cent in June. Among the resident labour force, the jobless rate climbed to 5 per cent in Q3 or 83,800, after a decline from 4.8 per cent in March to 4.6 per cent in June, when some residents then had deferred their job search and pursued courses amid the difficult job market. The seasonally adjusted figure was 100,300, higher than 91,500 in Jun 09. MOM added that long-term unemployment has worsened, as it takes longer for job seekers to find jobs amid cautious hiring sentiments during the downturn. The number of resident job seekers who had been looking for work for at least 25 weeks almost doubled from 9,600 from a year ago to 18,400 in September, with the share of resident job seekers rising from 17 per cent to 22 per cent. They formed 0.9 per cent of the resident labour force compared with 0.5 per cent a year ago, but remained below the highs registered in the same period of 2003 (1.6 per cent) and 2002 (1.4 per cent).

Q3 job vacancies up 46%

Singapore
Home > Breaking News > Singapore > Story
Dec 15, 2009

Q3 job vacancies up 46%

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Based on CPF records, half of the residents retrenched in Q2 were re-employed by September, an improvement from the record low of 43 per cent in the last quarter. -- PHOTO: THE BUSINESS TIMES

JOB vacancies in Singapore rose for the second consecutive quarter to 34,900 in September, up 42 per cent from June, as the economy continues its recovery path. But the job openings were still slightly below the 36,000 a year ago. After seasonal adjustment, total job vacancies increased by 46 per cent over the quarter, but were 3.8 per cent below last September's level, according the latest job market report released by the Ministry of Manpower on Tuesday. Driven by the sharp increase in job openings, the ratio of job vacancies to unemployed persons rose in the third quarter from a seasonally adjusted 33 to 52 openings per 100 job seekers in September - which was still lower than the 80 openings per 100 job seekers a year ago. In line with this, redundancies fell for the second consecutive quarter, with 2,110 workers retrenched and another 350 who were terminated prematurely from their contracts, resulting in a total of 2,470 workers made redundant in the third quarter. This was substantially lower than 5,980 in Q2 and the record 12,760 laid off in Q1. The re-employment rate also rose in September. Based on CPF records, half of the residents retrenched in Q2 were re-employed by September, an improvement from the record low of 43 per cent in the last quarter. But this was still below the 62 per cent recorded a year ago. Labour productivity fell over the year by 0.7 per cent in the third quarter, significantly less than the decline of 6 per cent in the preceding quarter. Nominal earnings fell by 3 per cent, its third consecutive quarter of decline. After adjusting for negative inflation in the third quarter, the decline in real earnings was 2.6 per cent, deeper than the contraction in the preceding quarter's minus 1.8 per cent.

The forecaster and 151th says economic growing wor :p:p:p