You’re fired!: Services laid off more than a thousand workers in the third quarter

The bulk of the employment gains in the third quarter this year came from services (21,900), higher than in the preceding quarter (20,200). Construction added 6,600 workers, while manufacturing employment rose by 3,500. Both registered substantially higher gains than in the earlier quarters.

Layoffs of workers remained low. Based on preliminary estimates, 1,500 workers were retrenched and 500 had their contracts terminated prematurely, resulting in a total of 2,000 workers made redundant in the third quarter of 2011. This was about the same as the 2,020 redundancies in the preceding quarter.

Services laid off 1,200 workers, followed by manufacturing with 700. Construction displaced another 100 workers.

Unemployment
Unemployment dropped slightly after increasing in the previous quarter. The seasonally adjusted overall unemployment rate declined from 2.1% in June 2011 to 2.0% in September 2011. Similarly, the unemployment rate for residents dipped from 3.0% to 2.9% and for Singapore citizens from 3.1% to 3.0% over the same period.