Singapore labour market grows while resident employment at all-time high: Labour Report
SINGAPORE: About 1.8 million residents were employed - a record high says the Manpower Ministry since it started observing such trends in 1991 - while Singapore's labour market grew by over 5 percent in the last two years. This is according to the latest labour force report released on Friday.
Boosted by higher migration, more female and older workers, the overall labour force has grown strongly in the past two years in tandem with strong economic expansion.
The report also highlighted the positive job outlook for residents, which the Manpower Ministry defines as not just Singaporeans but also Permanent Residents.
It said 76 percent of the resident population aged 25 to 64 were employed - the highest since data was first compiled in 1991.
In real terms, this translates to 1.8 million residents employed in June 2006.
In many ways, these figures are significant because they come on the back of feedback in recent years, where one of the main grouses of people trying to make a living is that despite the economic upturn, jobs have been going to foreigners instead of to Singaporeans.
Most of the new jobs taken by residents were also higher value added, which means more people working in the professionals and managers category. This came mainly at the expense of production and related workers though.
"The real challenge is we have all these jobs but if the workers are not up to speed, are not relevant, then they will not be able to do those jobs. We need to run really fast. Workers need to run really fast also in continuing to ensure their skills remain relevant and they can take advantage of those new opportunities created by our economy," said Halimah Yacob, Asst Secretary-General, NTUC.
Unemployment also improved to a record low for the last five years using June figures as a basis of comparison, and with robust economic conditions, residents found jobs a lot faster - down to just 8 weeks from the previous 12 weeks.
Two concerns remain though. The number of older workers is increasing, while there remains a sizeable pool of residents without even secondary school qualifications - over half a million workers. - CNA /dt
Very good observation!Originally posted by nismoS132:don't forget you are not considered unemployed if you remain unemployed for more than 6 months because after that you are considered 'unemployed by choice', just like how some are 'homeless by choice'.
That why they said only 2% GST increase but in actual fact is 40% jump from 5% to 7% GST.Originally posted by dragg:statistics are only for show!!!![]()
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why dont they report the figure on unemployment?