Singapore’s labour market remains tight

The overall unemployment rate in Singapore fell in September to 1.8%, down from 2.1% in June.

The Ministry of Manpower’s Labour Market, Third Quarter 2013 report also found the resident unemployment rate fell from 2.9% in June to 2.6% in September.

According to the report, the long-term unemployment rate for the resident labour force increased to 0.6%, up 0.2% year-on-year.

Total employment in Q3 2013 rose by 33,100 - a slight dip from 33,700 in the previous quarter, but higher than the 26,200 in the third quarter of 2012.

Additionally, the seasonally adjusted job vacancies in September rose by 5.9% quarter-on-quarter, a 0.8% improvement from June.

There were also more job openings and fewer job seekers in Q3 2013, resulting in a tight labour market in Singapore.

The seasonally adjusted ration of job vacancies to unemployment person rose to 1.41 in Q3, an increase from 1.21 in March and 1.12 in June.

In September, there were 61,900 job vacancies, a significant jump from 52,100 in the preceding quarter and 56,400 in Q3 2012.

The redundancy rate has also dropped from 3,080 in Q2 and 2,850 in Q3 2012 to 2,710 in Q3 2013.