TOTAL employment, excluding Foreign Domestic Workers, in Singapore contracted by 129,100 in the first half of 2020 (H1 2020), the largest half-yearly reduction on record, according to the republic’s Trade and Industry Ministry.

Citing the Labour Market Report Second Quarter 2020, Manpower Research & Statistics Department, the ministry said foreign employment fell by 5.7% or 66,400, sharper than the 2.7% or 62,700 decline in local employment.

“Foreign cutbacks were also more widespread across sectors,” it said.

The ministry said foreign employment cuts in H1 2020 were mostly among Work Permit and Other Work Passes (51,100), followed by S Pass (11,200) and Employment Pass (4,100).

Excluding construction, marine shipyard and process, the decline in Work Pass was 32,900 in H1 2020, it said.

The ministry said the seasonally adjusted unemployment overall rates rose over the quarter in June to 2.8% from 2.4%, but remained below previous recessionary peaks.

Meanwhile, retrenchments rose sharply to 11,350 in 1H 2020, said the ministry.

“This was higher than during the severe acute respiratory syndrome period in the H1 2003 at 10,120, but lower than other past recessionary peaks,” it said.

In addition, with the temporary stoppage or curtailment in business activities during the circuit breaker, another 81,720 employees were placed on short work-week or temporary layoff in Q2 2020.

“This likely reduced the number of retrenchments,” it said.

On the labour market outlook, the ministry said there are several areas of strength in the Singapore economy.

For example, the ministry said the electronics and precision engineering clusters are likely to expand, driven by sustained global demand for semiconductors and semiconductor equipment.

The biomedical manufacturing cluster is also expected to grow, supported by the production of pharmaceutical and biological products.

Likewise, the information and communications sector is projected to expand this year on the back of continued demand for IT and digital solutions, while growth in the finance and insurance sector will be supported in part by the strong demand for digital payment processing services.

“Job vacancies also rose in several sectors,” it said. – Bernama, September 14, 2020.