Singapore’s labour market expanded in Q3 2023 despite the weaker economic outlook, according to the Ministry of Manpower.

Total employment (excluding migrant domestic workers) increased by 23,600 in Q3 2023, a smaller increase than in Q2 2023 (24,300).

Broken down, the Ministry’s findings showed that resident employment grew by 2,800, a reversal of the decrease observed in Q2 2023 (-1,200). The increase in resident employment in Q3 2023 was mainly in growth sectors including health & social services, financial & insurance services and professional services.

Non-resident employment continued to grow (20,800), although at a slower pace compared to past quarters. The increase in non-resident employment growth was mainly from construction, administrative & support services and food & beverage services. The construction sector, consisting primarily of WP (work permit) and other work pass (WP+) holders, has seen slowing growth since Q3 2022. This was also the smallest growth in non-resident employment observed since Q4 2021.

Overall, while the labour market continued to expand, the pace of employment growth has slowed compared to a year ago.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rates remained low in October 2023 (overall: 1.9%; resident: 2.7%; citizen: 2.9%). The resident long-term unemployment rate rose from 0.5% in June 2023 to 0.7% in September 2023, which is comparable to the pre-Covid average rate.

The Ministry also noted that labour demand continued to cool. The number of job vacancies fell to 78,400 in September 2023, declining for the sixth consecutive quarter from the peak of 126,000 in March 2022. Job vacancies in growth sectors including information & communications, health & social services, professional services, financial & insurance services made up nearly one-third of the overall job vacancies available, on a non-seasonally adjusted basis.

The overall number of job vacancies continued to exceed the number of unemployed persons. The ratio of job vacancies to unemployed persons was at 1.58 in September 2023, declining from 1.94 in June 2023.

Layoffs increased from 3,200 to 4,110, with the majority of the increase attributed to wholesale trade where layoffs rose from 480 to 1,270. The number of layoffs in other remaining sectors remained broadly stable. Layoffs were primarily due to reorganisation or restructuring (61.9%), but more retrenching firms also indicated business and cost concerns as reasons for layoffs compared to the previous quarter.

The re-entry rate among laid off residents improved during Q3 2023 from 59.4% in Q2 2023 to 65.3% in Q3 2023. This was also higher than a year ago at 64.8% (Q3 2022) and within the range of 60.0% to 67.0% seen in 2018 to 2019.

Looking ahead, economic headwinds will continue to weigh on the labour market, the Ministry stated.