Overall unemployment climbs in Q2 on back of weaker economy: MoM

Unemployment rate rose to 2%.

After trending down in the previous four quarters, Singapore’s overall seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose in the second quarter of 2015 on back of weak economic conditions.

The Ministry of Manpower said in a report that overall unemployment rate rose to 2% in June, compared to 1.8% in March. Unemployment rate for residents grew to 2.8% from 2.5%, while unemployment rate among citizens rose to 2.9% from 2.6%.

An estimated 84,500 residents, including 74,900 Singapore citizens were unemployed in June 2015.

Long term unemployment also edged up over the year but still remained low. Some 15,500 residents forming 0.7% of the resident labour force had been looking for work for at least 25 weeks in June 2015, up slightly from 13,900 or 0.6% a year ago. 

However, total employment grew by 9,700 in the second quarter of 2015, after contracting by 6,100 jobs in the preceding quarter. This was lower than the 27,700 increase in the same quarter last year.