talent market updateSingapore Q3 2014

reSident unemploYment rate remained unCHanged at

2.8%990more redundanCieS tHan in Q2 2014

3.6%more people emploYed in SeptemBer 2014 tHan SeptemBer 2013

CitiZen unemploYment rate remained unCHanged at

2.9%

unemploYment rate remained loW amidSt tigHt laBour market /

Overall seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained steady at 1.9% between

Q2 and Q3 of 2014, as did the resident and citizen unemployment rates. Total

employment grew by 27,100 roles, which was only marginally fewer than the 27,700

recorded for Q2 but considerably lower than the 33,100 recorded for Q3 2013.

There were 3.577 million people employed in September, 3.6% more than recorded

in the same month last year.

Sources: www.mom.gov.sg www.todayonline.com

2

Unemployment continued its downward

trend from July to September (Q3), with

total unemployment rates falling from

2.0% in June 2014 to 1.9% in September.

However, the rates for residents and

citizens remained steady at 2.8% and 2.9%,

respectively. This left approximately 52,600

residents, including 46,700 Singapore

citizens, unemployed in September 2014.

The services sector experienced the

highest employment gains in Q3 2014,

with 23,500 people newly employed in

services roles. The construction sector

grew by 3,400 roles, although this was

notably lower than the 10,700 new roles

recorded in the same quarter last year.

Manufacturing remained almost static, with

only 300 new roles – substantially fewer

than the 3,300 recorded in Q3 2013.

Singapore QuarterlY emploYment CHange and unemploYment rateS

Source: Ministry of Manpower, Singapore

0

20

40

60

80

Sep

201

3

Jun

2013

Dec

201

3

Mar

201

4

Jun

2014

Sep

201

4

Mar

201

3

Dec

201

2

Sep

201

2

Jun

2012

Mar

201

2

Dec

201

1

Sep

201

1

Jun

2011

Mar

201

1

Dec

201

0

Sep

201

0

Emp

loym

ent

(000

s)

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

4.0

Unm

plo

ymen

t (%

)

Employment Resident unempoymentCitizen unempoyment

3

Singapore’s economy grew by 5.8%

between Q3 2013 and Q3 2014, and

the latest labour market figures show the

employment market in similarly good health.

There were 3,577,000 people employed in

September 2014. This was 3.6% higher than

in the same month last year, but lower than

the 3.8% increase recorded in June 2014.

Employment grew by 27,100 roles in the third

quarter. This rate of growth was similar to that

reported for Q2, but lower than the 33,100

roles reported for the same quarter in 2013.

Redundancy levels rose in Q3 2014, which

the Ministry of Manpower suggests reflects

the impact of restructuring in certain

industries. In total, 3,400 workers were

made redundant, which is a substantial

increase on the 2,410 redundancies recorded

in Q2. The services sector experienced

1,900 redundancies, representing 56%

of the total number of redundancies.

The manufacturing sector accounted for

38%, with 1,300 redundancies, while the

construction sector represented 5.9%,

experiencing 200 redundancies.

redundanCieS total emploYment CHangetotal unemploYment rate

Q2

2013

Q3

2013

Q4

2013

Q2

2014

Q1

2014

Q3

2014

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

3,500

4,000

4,500

Q2

2013

Q3

2013

Q4

2013

Q2

2014

Q1

2014

1.6%

1.5%

1.7%

1.8%

1.9%

2.0%

2.1%

2.2%

2.3%

2.4%

2.5%

Q2

2013

Q3

2013

Q4

2013

Q2

2014

Q3

2014

Q1

2014

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Q2

2013

Q3

2013

Q4

2013

Q2

2014

Q1

2014

Q3

2014

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

3,500

4,000

4,500

Q2

2013

Q3

2013

Q4

2013

Q2

2014

Q1

2014

1.6%

1.5%

1.7%

1.8%

1.9%

2.0%

2.1%

2.2%

2.3%

2.4%

2.5%

Q2

2013

Q3

2013

Q4

2013

Q2

2014

Q3

2014

Q1

2014

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Q2

2013

Q3

2013

Q4

2013

Q2

2014

Q1

2014

Q3

2014

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

3,500

4,000

4,500

Q2

2013

Q3

2013

Q4

2013

Q2

2014

Q1

2014

1.6%

1.5%

1.7%

1.8%

1.9%

2.0%

2.1%

2.2%

2.3%

2.4%

2.5%

Q2

2013

Q3

2013

Q4

2013

Q2

2014

Q3

2014

Q1

2014

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Source: Ministry of Manpower, Singapore

4

Neighbour Malaysia has shot up to second place.

Singapore trails behind other key Asian countries when it comes to gender parity in the workplace, the Gender Diversity Benchmark for Asia 2014 revealed today.

The report, sponsored mainly by the Bank of America Merrill Lynch, showed that Singapore’s workplace gender equality had fallen to the bottom half in a list of six key Asian markets including Malaysia, Hong Kong, China, Japan, and India.

Singapore ranks fourth in Asia on all indicators, including the average representation of women in the total workforce (48.2%), as well as at junior, middle and senior levels.

Although the companies in Singapore are achieving gender parity at junior levels (58.5%), other markets have caught up quickly, pulling the country down from second place when the survey was last conducted in 2011.

At middle levels, Singapore’s average representation of women is 40.6%, however, it drops to 23.7% at senior levels, lower than the regional average of 24.3%.

“Much more needs to be done and performance varies across the region. Women continue to be under-represented at senior levels in organisations and we need to continue to address this.

Source: Singapore Business Review Date: 19 September 2014

The first meeting for the newly-created SkillsFuture Council took place today to begin developing an integrated systems of education, training and career progression for Singaporeans.

The council is chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, and was formally announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong earlier this year as a means to promote industry support for Singaporean workers to advance in their careers based on skills, and a fostered culture of continuous learning.

“Our future must be about mastery of skills, in every job, and enabling every Singaporean to develop themselves to the fullest,” said Tharman. “We are going to put full effort into this, and it involves everyone – Government, employers, unions and all of us as individuals.”

1. Help individuals to make well-informed choices in education, training and careers

The council will guide the development of a full system to help individuals make choices in education, training and their careers, starting from educational counselling in schools and extending throughout a person’s working life.

It will foster collaboration between the Government, industry, and institutions, to provide individuals with exposure to a wide range of occupations and industries from young, and ongoing information on the changing needs of the labour market.

Source: Human Resources Online Date: 5 November 2014

Singapore trailS BeHind otHer aSian CountrieS on WorkplaCe gender eQualitY

tHe SkillSFuture CounCil StartS Work to BooSt SingaporeanS’ CareerS emploYment

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