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ASIA FOCUS
Most openings in services sector, most retrenchments in manufacturing, reports Chuang Peck Ming in Singapore
There is a big churn in the Singapore job market. Even as record numbers of jobs are being created, more people are being retrenched and more are seeking jobs. At the same time, the number of vacancies is shooting up. But while most layoffs are in manufacturing, most vacancies are in the services sector. The market appears to be searching for equilibrium.
Retrenchment jumped in the January-March quarter to cross 2,000 for the first time in more than a year, the latest job figures released yesterday by the Ministry of Manpower showed. A total of 2,274 people were axed in the first quarter of this year, up from 1,966 in the fourth quarter of 2007.
With even more job seekers knocking on employers' doors amid more job openings, the unemployment rate edged up to a seasonally adjusted 2% in March, from 1.7% in December 2007.
At the same time, a still tight labour market pushed nominal earnings in the first quarter, up 11% over the year - much higher than the 4.3% in the preceding quarter and 5% in the first quarter of 2007.
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| Office workers head for lunch in Singapore's financial district. — AP |
But after adjusting for inflation (the consumer price index rose 6.6% in the first quarter), earnings were up 3.6% in real terms - lower than the 5% real increase in the first quarter of 2007.
Still, with labour productivity down 2.8% over the year, following a 3.7% fall in the preceding quarter, the overall unit labour cost increased for the eighth straight quarter in the first quarter - rising 8.8%, after a 6% jump in the fourth quarter of 2007.
Three in four of those laid off in the first quarter of 2008 were manufacturing workers.
Services accounted for almost a quarter of the workers who lost positions in the first quarter, led by wholesale trade and financial houses. more than two-thirds of the workers affected were in their 30s and 40s.
The annual retrenchment figure rose from 10,294 in 2005 to 12,606 in 2006, before dropping significantly to 7,675 last year.
The number of layoffs declined in the first three quarters of 2007 but began to climb in the fourth quarter of, when the number of workers axed increased to 1,966, from 1,827 in the third quarter.
Total employment in the first quarter expanded a record 73,200, against 62,500 in the fourth quarter of 2007 and 49,400 in the first quarter of 2007.
Preliminary figures released in late April put the job gains at 68,400. "Services led [job growth in the first quarter] with employment gains of 46,500," the ministry said in a statement.
Driven by growth in building activity, construction added 14,500 workers, continuing the rapid increase of the earlier quarters. Manufacturing posted a gain of 11,800.
"Employment continued to expand strongly in a healthy economy, although an uncertain outlook and more cautious sentiment resulted in a higher unemployment rate," the ministry said.
Job vacancies jumped from 37,400 in December last year to 38,200 in March this year, with 71% of the openings in the services sector - mainly community, social and personal services, wholesale and retail trade, professional services, and transport and storage.
But with the rise in job seekers, the ministry said the seasonally adjusted ratio of job openings to jobless people dropped from 134 per 100 last December to 115 per 100 in March.
Published in Business Times (Singapore) on June 17
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