According to the latest employment report by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), job losses in Singapore has hit its worst ever at a 14-year-high. 8,500 jobs were eliminated in the first quarterly result of 2017, but the government agency was quick to add in a line claiming that most jobs lost are foreign work permit holders.
Redundancies and retrenchments continued its 6th consecutive quarter high at 4,800 since its peak at Q4 2015.
Despite massaging unemployment figures by including full time national servicemen as employed, Singapore’s unemployment rate for citizens remain at 3.5% into its 6th month since Q4 2015. Permanent residency visa-holders foreigners are more employable than citizens, pulling down unemployment rate to 3.2%.
You may view the MOM employment report here.
As Singapore does not have a Minimum Wage system or offer better legislated minimum employment benefits than other developed countries, unemployment rate is usually kept at as low as 1-3% even when the economy is not doing well.