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By Saifulbahri Ismail | Posted: 15 March 2012 1201 hrs
SINGAPORE: Singapore's overall unemployment rate for the fourth quarter of 2011 and for the full year averaged 2 per cent, the lowest in 14 years.
Latest figures released on Thursday by the Ministry of Manpower showed that among citizens, the jobless rate averaged 3 per cent for the whole of last year.
On average, 60,600 residents, including 52,900 Singapore citizens, were unemployed in 2011. In 2010, 64,800 residents were unemployed, including 57,700 Singapore citizens.
However, layoffs increased in the fourth quarter of 2011, resulting in a slightly higher number of workers affected in the whole year than in 2010.
3,250 workers were made redundant in the last quarter of 2011, higher than the 1,960 laid off in the preceding quarter.
For the full year of 2011, 9,990 workers were made redundant, slightly higher than the 9,800 in 2010.
Supported by hiring for the festive season, employment growth strengthened in the fourth quarter of 2011 to 37,600, from 31,900 in the preceding quarter and 33,900 in the fourth quarter of 2010.
For the whole year, total employment increased by 122,600, or 3.9 per cent, in 2011, slightly higher than the gains of 115,900 in 2010.
Based on CPF records, 59 per cent of residents laid off in the third quarter of last year found jobs by December 2011.
This rate of re-entry into employment within six months of redundancy dipped slightly from 60 per cent in September 2011, after rising for three consecutive quarters.
Job vacancies fell by 4.3 per cent over the quarter to 51,700 in December 2011, but were still 17 per cent higher compared to 44,100 a year ago.
Meanwhile, Singapore's labour productivity declined 0.4 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2011 compared to the previous year, following a 2 per cent rise in the third quarter.
For the whole of last year, overall labour productivity increased by 1 per cent, after rising sharply by 11 per cent in 2010.
The ministry said the moderation in productivity gains resulted from the slower GDP growth amid continuing strong employment creation.
Singapore has set itself the target of two to three per cent productivity growth over the next 10 years.
Labour economist from SIM University, Associate Professor Randolph Tan, believes the latest labour productivity figures will not derail the country's long-term productivity targets.
He said: "What it simply means is that when you compute labour productivity in this way, when there's a slowdown you need a compensating rise later on if you are to keep to your aim of improving productivity performance in the long term.
"I think for long-term productivity measures, what we need to do is to take into account more inputs than just labour inputs. Apart from labour inputs, you can take into account capital investments, spending on energy inputs and things like that."
He added: "By itself, this dip does not mean that we will not be able to achieve our long-term growth target. In fact there are other factors in the report that indicate that we could be on track to achieve quite stable performance in the labour market over the coming years, such as our improving real unit labour costs against competing manufacturing countries.
"What is needed in the long run is to reduce our dependence on manpower as the primary source of driving growth in the coming years and to focus more on improving productivity performance."
In response to strong manpower demand, foreign employment increased by 84,000 or 7.6 per cent in 2011. This followed the gains of 59,000 or 5.7 per cent in 2010.
Workers' earnings rose amid a tight labour market, with average monthly earnings increasing 4 per cent on-year in the fourth quarter of 2011.
After adjusting for inflation, real average earnings declined by 1.4 per cent in the final quarter of 2011, after dipping by 0.2 per cent in the preceding quarter.
For the whole of 2011, nominal average earnings grew by 6 per cent, after increasing by 5.6 per cent in 2010.
Weighed down by higher inflation in 2011, real average earnings rose by 0.7 per cent, following gains of 2.7 per cent in 2010.
Wage pressure from job seekers is expected to continue amid a tight labour market.
Ian Grundy, a management consultant from Adecco Singapore, said: "At the moment, where there is still such a high number of positions, the unemployment rate is still very low, and job seekers know that they still have quite a few options and that is keeping the wage pressure high.
"(This is) good for the employees, not always great for the employers, but we are going to see that continuing for a short time longer."
- CNA/al/ms
SINGAPORE: Singapore's overall unemployment rate for the fourth quarter of 2011 and for the full year averaged 2 per cent, the lowest in 14 years.
Latest figures released on Thursday by the Ministry of Manpower showed that among citizens, the jobless rate averaged 3 per cent for the whole of last year.
On average, 60,600 residents, including 52,900 Singapore citizens, were unemployed in 2011. In 2010, 64,800 residents were unemployed, including 57,700 Singapore citizens.
However, layoffs increased in the fourth quarter of 2011, resulting in a slightly higher number of workers affected in the whole year than in 2010.
3,250 workers were made redundant in the last quarter of 2011, higher than the 1,960 laid off in the preceding quarter.
For the full year of 2011, 9,990 workers were made redundant, slightly higher than the 9,800 in 2010.
Supported by hiring for the festive season, employment growth strengthened in the fourth quarter of 2011 to 37,600, from 31,900 in the preceding quarter and 33,900 in the fourth quarter of 2010.
For the whole year, total employment increased by 122,600, or 3.9 per cent, in 2011, slightly higher than the gains of 115,900 in 2010.
Based on CPF records, 59 per cent of residents laid off in the third quarter of last year found jobs by December 2011.
This rate of re-entry into employment within six months of redundancy dipped slightly from 60 per cent in September 2011, after rising for three consecutive quarters.
Job vacancies fell by 4.3 per cent over the quarter to 51,700 in December 2011, but were still 17 per cent higher compared to 44,100 a year ago.
Meanwhile, Singapore's labour productivity declined 0.4 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2011 compared to the previous year, following a 2 per cent rise in the third quarter.
For the whole of last year, overall labour productivity increased by 1 per cent, after rising sharply by 11 per cent in 2010.
The ministry said the moderation in productivity gains resulted from the slower GDP growth amid continuing strong employment creation.
Singapore has set itself the target of two to three per cent productivity growth over the next 10 years.
Labour economist from SIM University, Associate Professor Randolph Tan, believes the latest labour productivity figures will not derail the country's long-term productivity targets.
He said: "What it simply means is that when you compute labour productivity in this way, when there's a slowdown you need a compensating rise later on if you are to keep to your aim of improving productivity performance in the long term.
"I think for long-term productivity measures, what we need to do is to take into account more inputs than just labour inputs. Apart from labour inputs, you can take into account capital investments, spending on energy inputs and things like that."
He added: "By itself, this dip does not mean that we will not be able to achieve our long-term growth target. In fact there are other factors in the report that indicate that we could be on track to achieve quite stable performance in the labour market over the coming years, such as our improving real unit labour costs against competing manufacturing countries.
"What is needed in the long run is to reduce our dependence on manpower as the primary source of driving growth in the coming years and to focus more on improving productivity performance."
In response to strong manpower demand, foreign employment increased by 84,000 or 7.6 per cent in 2011. This followed the gains of 59,000 or 5.7 per cent in 2010.
Workers' earnings rose amid a tight labour market, with average monthly earnings increasing 4 per cent on-year in the fourth quarter of 2011.
After adjusting for inflation, real average earnings declined by 1.4 per cent in the final quarter of 2011, after dipping by 0.2 per cent in the preceding quarter.
For the whole of 2011, nominal average earnings grew by 6 per cent, after increasing by 5.6 per cent in 2010.
Weighed down by higher inflation in 2011, real average earnings rose by 0.7 per cent, following gains of 2.7 per cent in 2010.
Wage pressure from job seekers is expected to continue amid a tight labour market.
Ian Grundy, a management consultant from Adecco Singapore, said: "At the moment, where there is still such a high number of positions, the unemployment rate is still very low, and job seekers know that they still have quite a few options and that is keeping the wage pressure high.
"(This is) good for the employees, not always great for the employers, but we are going to see that continuing for a short time longer."
- CNA/al/ms
