Retrenchments fall to a record low in Q2 while job vacancies ease: MOM

RETRENCHMENTS in Singapore fell to a record low in the second quarter of 2022, but the number of job vacancies decreased slightly as companies filled more positions, according to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM)‘s Labour Market Report on Wednesday (Sep 14).

There were 990 retrenchments in Q2, down from 1,320 in the previous quarter. Although the share of retrenched residents who re-entered employment within 6 months fell to 66 per cent, down from 72 per cent in the previous quarter, this was still better than the 64 per cent rate in the year-ago period.

The number of job vacancies dipped slightly to 126,100 in June, after rising for 7 consecutive quarters, but remained at “historical high levels”. Even with the dip in vacancies, the ratio of job vacancies to unemployed persons edged up to 2.53 as unemployment rates continued to decline.