Singapore’s job vacancies rise to 79,800, while re-entry rate of retrenched workers falls in Q4

JOB vacancies in Singapore edged up slightly in the fourth quarter of 2023, while a lower re-entry rate of 61.5 per cent was observed among residents six months after retrenchment, according to the Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM) Labour Market Report on Thursday (Mar 14).

Job vacancies grew to 79,800 in December, from 78,200 in September, after falling for six consecutive quarters since peaking in March 2022.

The ratio of job vacancies to unemployed persons, at 1.74, has been rising since March 2021 when it was 0.96, indicating a “moderately tight labour market”, said MOM.

Higher-paying industries, such as financial and insurance and professional services, were the sectors that had higher job vacancies.

The number of job vacancies in the financial and insurance sector rose to 7,200 in Q4, from 5,100 previously, while those in the professional services sector grew to 6,200, up from 5,600.

Labour demand is expected to strengthen over the year, alongside Singapore’s improved growth prospects, said MOM director for manpower research and statistics Ang Boon Heng at a media briefing.

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But business restructuring and reorganisation are also expected to continue, which may contribute to higher retrenchments, he added.

With Singapore’s real gross domestic product expected to recover in 2024, this will support employment growth in the second half of 2024, noted DBS economist Chua Han Teng.

“That said, the economic growth improvement is likely to be fragile, which could keep labour demand modest in the near term,” he said.

Ang noted that growth sectors, such as financial services and professional services, should see employment levels continue to grow. Meanwhile, sectors which faced challenges in 2023, such as manufacturing and wholesale, may see more sluggish labour demand.

In 2023, labour market indicators moderated as expected from the “height of recovery” seen in 2022 from the pandemic, said Ang.

Labour demand cooled over the course of the year, with the rate of employment growth slowing in each successive quarter, noted MOM.

Total employment, excluding migrant domestic workers, expanded for the ninth straight quarter by 7,500 in Q4 – though the increase moderated significantly for both residents and non-residents compared with the previous quarter.

The moderation was expected as Singapore’s labour market reached full capacity in terms of pre-pandemic levels, so the upside will be much slower than before, said the ministry.

For the full year, total employment grew by a revised 88,400, driven largely by non-residents in the construction and manufacturing sectors. Meanwhile, resident employment growth was mainly in financial services and professional services.

While employment levels are expected to continue to grow, it will still largely be driven by rises in the non-resident workforce. “The reason is we don’t really think that it is realistic for resident employment to keep going at very high levels because of this slowing birth rate,” said Ang. 

Unemployment rates remained low and stable in December at 2 per cent overall; 2.8 per cent for residents; and 2.9 per cent for citizens. The seasonally adjusted resident long-term unemployment rate remained at 0.7 per cent in December, the same as in September.

In Q4, the number of retrenchments fell to 3,460, from 4,110 recorded in the previous quarter. The decrease was driven by a fall in retrenchments in wholesale trade, which surged in the third quarter.

Among retrenched residents, the percentage of those who re-entered employment within six months of being retrenched also dipped to 61.5 per cent, from 65.3 per cent in the previous quarter – though the proportion is still within the 60 to 70 per cent range as seen during pre-pandemic years, said MOM.

Ang noted that the lower re-entry rate in the fourth quarter was not due to structural reasons, but because this specific cohort of retrenched workers had a larger proportion of older workers, who typically take a longer time to re-enter the workforce.

For 2023 as a whole, the number of retrenchments rose to a revised 14,590, from the low of 6,440 seen in the previous year. However, this was similar to pre-pandemic levels, where the average between 2015 and 2019 was 14,180.