SINGAPORE: Overall unemployment in Singapore rose slightly from 1.9 per cent at the end of 2024 to 2 per cent at the end of the first quarter of 2025, according to latest figures from the Manpower Ministry (MOM).
Data released on Friday (Jun 27) showed that the labour market continued to grow but dipped from 7,700 jobs in Q4 2024 to 2,400 in Q1 2025.
Job vacancies rose from 77,500 in December 2024 to 81,100 in March, reflecting a broad-based increase, although manufacturing showed signs of slowing labour demand.
MOM’s labour market statistics for Q1 2025 did not capture the potential impact of the United States’ tariff increases, as these were announced in early April.
Manpower Minister Tan See Leng said the Economic Resilience Task Force would be ready to announce some measures in early Q3 2025, after reviewing more ways to help businesses and workers navigate the uncertainty.
The government is working with Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) to increase access to job opportunities for fresh graduates, as well as ramping up the pace of upskilling and retraining for mature workers, he said.
For fresh graduates, he said a nuanced approach would be taken to ensure internships or attachments “do not end up cannibalising” or “distract” young jobseekers from what is already available in the job market.
Dr Tan noted that many businesses have adopted a “wait-and-see posture” to the tariffs situation.
He said another key measure to be rolled out was help for firms to diversify out of supply chains directly impacted by the tariffs, and diversify out of single or more concentrated markets that they serve.
The unemployment rate is part of a basket of indicators that MOM is watching closely to measure the tariffs’ effects going forward, said Mr Ang Boon Heng, director of the manpower research and statistics department.
Other indicators are an increase in short work-weeks and temporary layoffs, which tend to be employers’ first response before retrenchment, as well as a drop in job vacancies and weak hiring sentiment, he said.
The global economic outlook remains uncertain in the near term, but Singapore’s external demand outlook has improved slightly as major economies have taken steps to deescalate trade tensions, said MOM.
