Singapore’s total employment up by 19,600 in Q4; retrenchment level rises in 2025: MOM

[SINGAPORE] Total employment in Singapore rose by 19,600 in the fourth quarter of 2025, based on advance estimates released by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) on Thursday (Jan 29).

This is slightly lower than the 25,100 increase in the third quarter of 2025, noted the statement. However, the Q4 2025 employment growth figure is higher than that of Q4 2024 (at 7,700) and Q4 2023 (at 3,900).

Both residents and non-residents saw higher employment growth in 2025 compared to that in the previous year. A breakdown in employment change figures in Q4 will be released in mid-March, added MOM.

According to the report, resident employment growth in Q4 2025 was backed by “seasonal year-end hiring gains”, in the areas of administrative and support services as well as retail trade.

It however softened in certain “outward-oriented sectors” such as wholesale trade, information and communications, and transportation and storage. This was likely due to global economic uncertainties continuing to weigh on employment prospects in these sectors.

Total employment growth for the full year in 2025 stood at 57,300, higher than 2024’s 44,500.

Unemployment

The overall unemployment rate in 2025 stood at 2 per cent, with resident unemployment recorded at 2.8 per cent and citizen unemployment at 3 per cent.

This level has remained steady, when compared with data from the past two years.

Retrenchments, however, saw an uptick to 14,400, or 6.2 retrenched per 1,000 employees, due to more lay-offs in the first three quarters of 2025, compared with the same period in the previous year.

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In Q4 2025, 3,600 employees were retrenched, around the same level as that in the previous quarter.

The incidence of retrenchment did stay low at 1.5 retrenched per 1,000 employees in Q4 2025, around the same as Q3’s corresponding figure of 1.6.

This comes on the back of greater “business reorganisation” rather than broad-based job losses, an NTUC statement on Thursday indicated.

“But as transformation continues and technologies like artificial intelligence reshape work, early support for workers to reskill, adapt and move into new roles becomes even more important,” it said.

Outlook

Looking ahead to the first quarter of 2026, business expectations suggest that the labour market will continue to expand, though firms are becoming more cautious in their hiring plans.

MOM noted that the proportion of firms expecting to hire has edged down slightly, from 44.1 per cent in September 2025 to 43.3 per cent in December 2025.

At the same time, a larger share of firms expected to raise wages over the same period, up from 19.3 per cent to 26.4 per cent. This points to persistent competition for labour in certain areas.

“While the share of firms expecting to retrench workers also rose from 2.3 per cent to 4.3 per cent over the same period, it remains low,” the statement added. “(This) suggests selective workforce adjustments, rather than broad-based job cuts.”