Singapore’s unemployment rates continued to decline, by 0.1% point in June 2021 to 2.7%, according to the latest Labour Market Advance Release Q2 2021 by the Ministry of Manpower.

Research on the labour market showed that the resident unemployment rate fell from 3.8% in May to 3.7% in June. The citizen unemployment rate fell by 0.2%, from 4.0% in May 2021 to 3.8% in June 2021. Since peaking in September 2020, unemployment rates had been falling steadily, though they remained elevated compared to pre-pandemic rates.

The resident employment continued to grow in the second quarter, but at a slower pace. As this modest increase was outpaced by the continued decline in non-resident employment, total employment (excluding Migrant Domestic Workers) fell in Q2 2021 (-15,700).

Singapore’s Covid-19 Phase 2 (Heightened Alert) restrictions from 16 May to 13 June had some impact on the labour market, in particular on resident employment within domestically-oriented sectors most directly affected by the measures.

The Ministry added that restrictions on the inflow of migrant workers due to public health considerations and the rise in Delta variant cases globally continue to temporarily constrain non-resident employment growth.

However, the resident employment and unemployment rate had continued to improve overall as outward-oriented sectors and the healthcare sector maintained their growth trajectories.

The number of layoffs increased slightly (2,500) from the previous quarter (2,270).

Companies cited re-organisation/restructuring, or business downturn within their industry, as common reasons for the layoffs.

“We have not observed any notable increases in retrenchments in sectors directly impacted by the tighter restrictions such as Food & Beverages Services,” the Ministry added.