SINGAPORE'S job growth has slowed significantly, with the manufacturing sector bleeding jobs for the first time since 2003.
Preliminary estimates released on Friday morning by the Manpower Ministry showed 26,900 jobs in all added from October to December last year, half of the gains of 55,700 in the previous quarter.
The whole of last year saw 227,200 jobs being added, down from 234,900 in 2007.
Employment in manufacturing contracted by 6,200 in the fourth quarter last year.
The main driver of the economy, services, also saw fewer jobs added for the third straight quarter.
It added 21,900 jobs, down from a high of 46,500 at the beginning of the year.
Construction added 10,800 jobs, down from 16,500 in the previous quarter.
Both locals and foreigners benefited from employment growth, but local employment grew slower, by 70,400 last year, down from 90,400 in the previous year.
Foreign employment rose by 156,900 last year, up from 144,500 the previous year.
With the downturn deepening, job growth has slowed for both locals and foreigners in the last quarter of the year, the ministry said, without giving figures.
As at December, the workforce was made up of 1.9 million locals (64 per cent) and 1,057,700 foreigners (36 per cent).
The ministry also released figures of workers who were laid off and those who were let go prematurely from their contracts.
A spokesman said this was to give a more complete picture of people who would have lost their jobs.
Their ranks swelled to 8,500 in the fourth quarter of last year, up from 3,178 in the previous quarter.
For the whole of last year, 16,000 workers were made redundant, up from 8,592 the previous year.
Correspondingly, unemployment has risen.
It rose to 2.6 per cent in December, from 2.2 per cent in September.
The unemployment rate averaged 2.3 per cent last year, up from 2.1 per cent in 2007. This is the first time it has risen since the peak of 4 per cent in 2003, the ministry noted.
- The Straits Times
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