Singapore - More jobs and fewer layoffs were seen in the later part of 2009.
A release by the Manpower Ministry indicated that for the whole
of 2009, total employment increased by 38,800, as job gains in the
second half of the year more than offset the losses in the first half.
It added that total employment is estimated to grow by 38,700 in the
fourth quarter of 2009, much higher than the gains of 14,000 in the
preceding quarter and 21,300 in the fourth quarter of 2008.
Local employment also grew by 43,000 in 2009 while foreign employment fell.
As at December 2009, just over 35% of the 2.99 million persons
employed in Singapore were foreigners as compared to 64.8% employed
locals.
Leading the jobs rise was services employment which rose by 56,100
for the whole of 2009 due to year-end festivities and the integrated
resorts.
The services sector alone saw 32,100 more workers in the fourth
quarter of 2009, significantly higher than the first three quarters of
the year and the fourth quarter of 2008.
As for construction, the sector added 4,700 workers in Q4, bringing its
total gains to 25,200 in 2009 after shedding workers for four
consecutive quarters.
On the downside were jobs in the manufacturing sector which
although up by 1,400 in the fourth quarter, weren't sufficient to
offset the earlier losses, resulting in a contraction of 43,000 jobs.
Based on preliminary estimates, redundancy fell for the third
consecutive quarter and was the smallest yet, with a total of 1,500
workers made redundant in the fourth quarter of 2009.
However, for the whole of 2009 there were still more people being
made redundant compared to 2008, mainly due to the spike in job cuts in
the first quarter of 2009 due to the economic downturn.
--CNA