Chart of the Day: Check out total employment contraction in Q3

More than 3,000 jobs were gone.

Total employment contracted in the third quarter of 2016 by 3,300 after slower growth in the previous two quarters, latest figures by Ministry of Manpower revealed. This is the second time total employment has contracted since the 2008/2009 recession.

"There was a broad-based slowdown in employment growth in the third quarter of 2016," MOM noted, saying employment growth in services (5,700) slowed from the previous quarter (7,600).Meanwhile, employment in manufacturing continued to decline (-3,700) for the eighth consecutivequarter.

"The magnitude of decline was largely similar to the previous quarter (-3,400), as business outlook for the sector remained unchanged. Employment change in construction also turned negative (-5,200), after four quarters of moderated increases. This occurred amid declines in private sector construction activities," MOM explained.

In September 2016, total employment reached 3,670,200, 0.8% higher than a year ago. This was lower than the 1.3% growth in June 2016 and the average growth of about 2.0% in 2015.