Unemployment and retrenchments rose in Q2 2016

By: Kheng-Liang Tan

According to official data released by MOM on Thursday (15 Sep), the unemployment rate in Singapore rose to 2.1% in June this year. This compares with 1.9% in March.

Citizen unemployment stood at 3.1% in June, up from 2.6% in March. For residents, the rate rose from 2.7% to 3.0% over the same period.

In the second quarter of 2016, 4,800 workers were retrenched amid a backdrop of a slowing economy. Besides being roughly 50% more than last year’s 3250, the number of retrenched workers in the first half of 2016 currently stands at 9,510. This is at its highest since 2009.

The long-term unemployment rate – defined as those who were looking for job for more than 25 weeks – stood at 0.8%. Degree-holders aged 40 and over were the worst hit in this group.

The number of job vacancies fell from 50,000 in March to 49,400 in June. With more unemployed people, there are now 93 job openings per 100 job seekers.