Singapore's unemployment rates could return to pre-Covid-19 levels by end-2022: economists

WHILE Singapore's labour market is making a broad-based recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, unemployment rates are only likely to return to pre-pandemic levels by end-2022, according to economists.

The employment rate for residents rose to 67.2 per cent in June this year, up from 64.5 per cent a year ago, according to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM)'s Labour Force in Singapore Advance Release 2021 report on Wednesday (Dec 1). This is higher than the pre-pandemic level of 65.2 per cent recorded in June 2019.

At the same time, however, the unemployment rate for resident professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) only dipped slightly to 3.4 per cent in June, down from 3.5 per cent a year ago. During the same period in 2019, the figure was 2.9 per cent.