Labour Market

US weekly jobless claims increase marginally as labour market stabilises

The jobless rate eased to 4.3% in January from 4.4% in December

Critics point to sharp increases in the minimum wage and plans to strengthen protections for employees, discouraging firms from hiring.

Nearly a million young Britons are not in jobs or education

The report could fuel discontent with Prime Minister Keir Starmer

Roles with narrowly defined scopes may be more vulnerable to the increasing selectiveness of hiring conditions, even if they remain well-established career paths. 

‘Best jobs’ in Singapore? Piano teachers strike the right note

Indeed’s Best Jobs list identifies two types of roles offering resilience; those with broad, transferable skills and those with steady, constrained demand

Engineers working on a rocket engine in Zhejiang. The expected global job deficit in 10 to 15 years' time is not just a development issue, but also an economic and national security challenge, says the writer.
THE BOTTOM LINE

How to create jobs for the world’s 1.2 billion new workers

With only about 400 million jobs expected to be generated, we face a gap of staggering proportions

The slide in vacancies indicates companies continue to be selective about their hiring tempo as they assess the size of their labour forces and economic activity.

US job openings drop to lowest since 2020, layoffs edge up

Available positions decrease to 6.54 million from a downwardly revised 6.93 million reading in November

Singapore's larger-than-expected GDP growth “provided a favourable starting point for 2026”, says MAS.

Singapore’s economic growth to stay resilient in 2026 on AI tailwinds, pace to moderate: MAS

The central bank expects artificial intelligence capex to continue supporting electronics supply chains

There is a difference between specific benefits that can be rescinded, and improvements that represent an evolution of mindsets – such as workers today placing a premium on work-life balance.
THINKING ALOUD

What some see as entitlement, others see as enlightenment

Rather than seeing issues in terms of privileges that are granted, it might be more practical to acknowledge mindset shifts

Online jobs portal Adzuna said vacancies dropped from 745,448 in November to 716,791 last month, a 15 per cent reduction compared with a year previously.

UK labour market cools further, online jobs data shows

Bank of England policymakers are watching the jobs market and wage growth carefully

Nearly half of the workers interviewed fear the nascent technology stands to benefit corporations more than the workforce, the data showed.

Young workers most worried about AI affecting jobs: Randstad survey

FOUR in five workers believe artificial intelligence is going to impact their daily tasks at the workplace, with Gen Z among those most concerned as companies increasingly rely on AI chatbots and auto...

Millions of people in South-east Asia are weaving small, paid digital tasks, such as data annotation and image tagging, into the margins of their day to earn supplementary income.
THE BROAD VIEW

Micro-digital income is reshaping work patterns across Asean

More than a technological fad, this trend marks a shift in work culture and could reshape the labour market in Singapore and beyond