Published October 31, 2009

Jobs are back, and so are job seekers

Total employment rises by 15,400 in Q3, even though the unemployment rate creeps up to 3.4% in Sept

By CHUANG PECK MING

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THE jobless rate is up, even though the economy is on the mend and churning out more jobs. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate edged up to 3.4 per cent in September, from 3.3 per cent in June, according to a preliminary report released yesterday by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM).

But total employment jumped 15,400 in the three months ended September, after losses in the two preceding quarters.

So while jobs came back in Q3, more members of the working population were out of work by end-September - due to more people looking for jobs in a recovering economy, after taking a break.

Dhirendra Shantilal, Asia-Pacific senior vice-president of human resource consultancy firm Kelly Services, says employers are hiring to prepare for an upswing in business.

Adds Edlyn Wee, branch manager for recruitment firm Adecco Personnel: 'We are seeing an increase in demand for project managers - especially from large IT organisations.' But manufacturing and other export sectors have yet to recover, which explains the uptick in unemployment, says Mr Shantilal. Plus, new graduates are coming into the job market, he adds.

MOM's Q3 report on jobs comes two weeks after Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong warned the unemployment rate would stay up for some time, even with the economy bouncing back.

The report also comes a day after the Monetary Authority of Singapore cautioned that while recovery is on course, the pace of economic expansion ahead will be slower.

According to MOM, although overall employment is up, the gain in Q3 was much lower than the 55,700 figure a year back, just before the Lehman Brothers collapse sparked a global financial meltdown.

Still, lay-offs and redundancies, which added up to 2,200 in Q3, were substantially less than the 5,980 in Q2.

Unlike in previous quarters, when manufacturing was the culprit, services accounted for the bulk - 1,300 - of jobs lost in Q3.

According to MOM, the jobless rate among Singaporeans and Permanent Residents rose in September, lifting the residential unemployment rate to 5 per cent, after it declined from 4.8 per cent in March to 4.6 per cent in June.

An estimated 83,800 residents were unemployed in September. The seasonally adjusted figure was 100,300.

But MOM says the fall in the resident jobless rate from March to June was due to residents putting off the search for jobs in a tough market then.

It also notes that September's overall unemployment rate was still below 6.2 per cent peak during the Sars outbreak in September 2003.

The services sector continued to see job gains in Q3, with 13,400 jobs created - up sharply from 7,500 in Q1 and 3,800 in Q2.

But the gains were still below the 34,300 posted in Q3 2008.

'As the economy continues to improve, we hope to see the retail, hotel & restaurants and professional services areas keep improving,' Adecco's Ms Wee says. 'The advent of the integrated resorts opening will also offer additional recruitment opportunities across several areas.'

The construction industry also added workers again in Q3 - 8,100 more, compared with 4,700 in Q2.

Only the manufacturing sector was still shedding jobs - the fourth quarterly loss in a row. But the decline of 6,600 was not as bad as in previous quarters, when it was as high 22,100 jobs lost.