Singapore’ labour market indicators for Q1 2021 point to the continued recovery of the labour market from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, however the labour market is still not fully back to pre-Covid-19 conditions, according to data from the Ministry of Manpower.

Total employment grew for the first time in Q1 2021 (excluding Migrant Domestic Workers) after four consecutive quarters of decline. Resident employment continued to increase, outpacing the decline in non-resident employment with broad-based growth across industries. The decline in non-resident employment partly reflects the restrictions on the inflow of foreign workers due to public health reasons.

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rates continued the steady improvement since the peak in September 2020. Unemployment rates declined further from February to March 2021. Overall unemployment fell from 3.0% to 2.9%, while the resident unemployment rate fell from 4.1% to 4.0% and the citizen unemployment rate dropped from 4.3% to 4.2%. However, these rates remained elevated compared to pre-Covid-19 levels.

The resident long-term unemployment rate remained unchanged at 1.1% (seasonally adjusted).

In Q1 2021, the number of layoffs declined for the second consecutive quarter, and the six-month re-entry rate among laid off residents rose for two consecutive quarters to 66% in Q1 2021.

There were fewer layoffs across sectors. More than half of cutbacks which occurred in Q1 2021 were due to restructuring and re-organisation, while cuts due to recession or downturn in industry made up a smaller proportion compared to a quarter ago.

As business activities picked up, the number of employees who were placed on short work-week or temporary layoff continued to decline. However, the level remains high compared to pre-pandemic quarters.

The number of job vacancies (seasonally adjusted) increased further to 68,400 in March 2021, exceeding the last high of 65,500 in March 2015.

The ratio of job vacancies to unemployed persons improved to nearly 1 job vacancy for every unemployed person in March 2021 (0.96), an increase from a ratio of 0.75 in December 2020 (seasonally adjusted). The ratio in March 2021 was within the range observed in pre-Covid years of 2018 – 2019.

Job vacancies were reported in all industries.