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<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=452 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>Published February 27, 2009
</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>Labour productivity falls across the board in Q4
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DESPITE a sharp pick-up in retrenchments in the final quarter of last year, there was no improvement in labour productivity.
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</TD></TR><TR class=caption><TD></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Instead, productivity tumbled 12 per cent in October-December, steeper than the 9 per cent drop the quarter before, according to the Economic Survey of Singapore 2008 report.
For the full year, productivity fell 7.8 per cent, after a 0.8 per cent dip in 2007.
The latest decline was due to the slowdown in gross domestic product (GDP) growth and strong employment gains in 2008. GDP crept up 1.1 per cent last year, after rising 7.8 per cent in 2007.
Despite the slowdown in growth, 227,200 jobs were created in 2008 - not that many fewer than the record 234,900 in 2007.
Still, as the economy sagged in the second half of last year, employment weakened.
Preliminary estimates show 7,000 workers were retrenched in Q4, almost three times many as 2,300 in Q3.
For the full year, lay- offs almost doubled to 13,400, from 7,700 in 2007. Most of last year's job losses - 8,300 - were in manufacturing.
The unemployment rate rose to 2.3 per cent last year, from 2.1 per cent in 2007.
The manufacturing sector accounted for more than half of all job losses in Q4 2008. Some 3,700 manufacturing workers were axed during the quarter, up from 1,700 in Q3.
Driven by lay-offs in financial services and wholesale trade, retrenchments in the services sector increased more than four times from Q3 to 3,200 in Q4.
The decline in labour productivity in Q4 was evident across all industries. The steepest falls were 15 per cent in manufacturing and 15 per cent in financial services.
Nominal average monthly earnings increased 2.4 per cent in Q4, down from 5.5 per cent the quarter before.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>Labour productivity falls across the board in Q4
<TABLE class=storyLinks cellSpacing=4 cellPadding=1 width=136 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR class=font10><TD align=right width=20>
</TD><TD>Email this article</TD></TR><TR class=font10><TD align=right width=20></TD><TD>Print article </TD></TR><TR class=font10><TD align=right width=20></TD><TD>Feedback</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>DESPITE a sharp pick-up in retrenchments in the final quarter of last year, there was no improvement in labour productivity.
<TABLE class=picBoxL cellSpacing=2 width=100 align=left><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR class=caption><TD></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Instead, productivity tumbled 12 per cent in October-December, steeper than the 9 per cent drop the quarter before, according to the Economic Survey of Singapore 2008 report.For the full year, productivity fell 7.8 per cent, after a 0.8 per cent dip in 2007.
The latest decline was due to the slowdown in gross domestic product (GDP) growth and strong employment gains in 2008. GDP crept up 1.1 per cent last year, after rising 7.8 per cent in 2007.
Despite the slowdown in growth, 227,200 jobs were created in 2008 - not that many fewer than the record 234,900 in 2007.
Still, as the economy sagged in the second half of last year, employment weakened.
Preliminary estimates show 7,000 workers were retrenched in Q4, almost three times many as 2,300 in Q3.
For the full year, lay- offs almost doubled to 13,400, from 7,700 in 2007. Most of last year's job losses - 8,300 - were in manufacturing.
The unemployment rate rose to 2.3 per cent last year, from 2.1 per cent in 2007.
The manufacturing sector accounted for more than half of all job losses in Q4 2008. Some 3,700 manufacturing workers were axed during the quarter, up from 1,700 in Q3.
Driven by lay-offs in financial services and wholesale trade, retrenchments in the services sector increased more than four times from Q3 to 3,200 in Q4.
The decline in labour productivity in Q4 was evident across all industries. The steepest falls were 15 per cent in manufacturing and 15 per cent in financial services.
Nominal average monthly earnings increased 2.4 per cent in Q4, down from 5.5 per cent the quarter before.
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