For the first time since the fourth quarter of 2019, total employment in Singapore (excluding migrant domestic workers) grew in Q1 2021, according to labour market data from the Ministry of Manpower.

In Q1 2021, the bulk of the employment increases were in services (primarily from residents). Within services, sectors such as information & communications, financial services, and professional services continued to see employment expansion.

Following sustained contractions in the preceding quarters, total employment in construction saw a slight rebound in 1Q 2021, as the contraction in non-resident employment moderated significantly. On the other hand, employment in manufacturing continued to contract, although at a slower pace. Resident employment growth was broad-based, and contraction in non-resident employment was also recorded in all sectors.

Against the backdrop of a gradually recovering economy, unemployment rates saw a further easing of 0.1% point in March 2021, declining overall: from 3.0% to 2.9%. The resident unemployment rate declined from 4.1% to 4.0% while the citizen jobless rate declined from 4.3% to 4.2%. Since peaking in September 2020, unemployment rates have fallen steadily over the past two quarters, though still remaining elevated compared to pre-Covid-19 rates.

Meanwhile, the number of layoffs reached a peak in the third quarter of 2020 and experienced the second quarter of decline in Q1 2021. The frequency of cuts is expected to decline as well (from 2.8 dismissed per 1,000 employees in Q4 2020 to 1.1 in Q1 2021).

“Even though retrenchments have fallen to a level usually observed in 2018 and 2019, we could still see pockets of job displacements due to on-going restructuring and re-organisation,” the Ministry noted.

“The labour market is still not fully back to pre-Covid-19 conditions,” the Ministry stated. “As a result of on-going travel and entry restrictions, hiring remains subdued in sectors such as construction and hospitality. Unemployment rates may have eased but remain higher than before the pandemic. Nevertheless, preliminary data for 1Q 2021 showed an encouraging pick-up in employment that was fairly broad-based.”