Tight labour market keeps wage costs up

[SINGAPORE] In its latest Macroeconomic Review, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has said that the labour market remained tight in the second half of last year. This web chart illustrates the continued crunch by comparing the values of five labour market indicators: overall unemployment, long-term unemployment, redundancy, overall vacancy rates, and resident wage growth.

Despite strong hiring intentions, the overall vacancy rate in the second half of last year was markedly higher than its five and 10-year historical averages.

Indeed, job vacancy rates rose in every sector in the latter half of last year, reflecting the difficulties that companies experienced when attempting to fill positions.