Employment grows more than expected in Q1, but uncertainties weigh on recovery: MOM

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SINGAPORE: Total employment in Singapore grew by more than estimated in the first quarter of this year, but economic uncertainties and COVID-19 ...

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SINGAPORE: Total employment in Singapore grew by more than estimated in the first quarter of this year, but economic uncertainties and COVID-19 restrictions are expected to weigh on the pace of labour market recovery in the second quarter, said the Ministry of Manpower on Thursday .

“In fact, last month’s tightened measures in Phase 2 is expected to lead to some kinks. Recovery is also expected to be more uneven across sectors than earlier expected.”Speaking after a visit to the Procter and Gamble Innovation Centre, Dr Tan said that the outlook remains “guarded” due to COVID-19 restrictions in Phase 2 , which Singapore is just emerging from.Domestic sectors like retail and food and beverage in particular would be impacted by the restrictions, he noted.

MOM said that seasonally adjusted unemployment rates continued to improve, but unemployment rates remained elevated in March. The overall unemployment rate in March was 2.9 per cent, with the resident unemployment rate dipping from 4.1 per cent to 4 per cent, and the citizen unemployment rate at 4.2 per cent.

“We do expect the number of foreign workers to grow at some point. The prolonged decline is really a function of the border restrictions, and will not be representative of the demands of the different sectors,” he said, adding that the drop in foreign employment in Q1 was across different sectors. Responding to a reporter’s question on when border restrictions may be relaxed so firms can hire the foreign workers they need, Dr Tan said that this depends on many factors and a “key variable” is the COVID-19 situation in the countries where the workers are from. He added that there is a “risk quota” to determine the inflow of workers.

The ratio of job vacancies to unemployed people improved from 0.75 in December 2020 to 0.96, or nearly one job vacancy for every unemployed person in March. This is within the pre-pandemic range, which was 0.82 to 1.09 from 2018 to 2019, said MOM.

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