Underemployment a bigger issue than unemployment: economists

Singapore

IF December's data is any indicator, Singapore's labour market appears to be on the mend, but economists warn that underemployment - rather than unemployment - could be the bigger issue this recession.

Overall unemployment rate fell for the second straight month in December, coming in at 3.2 per cent, but Walter Theseira, an economist at the Singapore University of Social Sciences, believes one reason is that "a lot of people have decided to settle for any kind of job for the moment".