3 in 10 redundant workers failed to get re-employed

Number of laid off workers also increased.

According to a release by the Ministry of Manpower, about 3 in 10 employees, or 32%, made redundant in the first three quarters of 2013 failed to get re-employed by December of the same year.

Meanwhile, two-thirds (66%) of residents made redundant in the first three quarters of 2013 re-entered employment by December 2013, within 12 months of redundancy. This was slightly lower than the rate experienced by the preceding cohort in 2012 (68%), due to PMETs who take longer to secure re-entry into employment, as they spend more time seeking jobs that match their skills, qualifications and salary expectations. 

However, there was improvement in the last three quarters of the year, with the rate of re-entry into employment within six months of redundancy rising from 49% in March 2013 to 59% in December 2013.

Redundancy

In 2013, 11,560 workers were laid off, slightly higher than the 11,010 in 20121. Seen against a larger pool of employees, the incidence of redundancy remained low at 5.8 workers per 1,000 employees, unchanged from 2012.

Restructuring of business processes for greater work efficiency remained the top reason for redundancy in 2013, affecting 40% of the workers laid off in 2013, up from 37% in 2012. High costs and reorganisation of businesses were the other key reasons cited.

Professionals, managers, executives & technicians (PMETs) were more vulnerable to redundancy, with 7.3 made redundant for every 1,000 PMETs, compared to production & related workers (5.7 per 1,000) and clerical, sales & service workers (2.8 per 1,000).

Nonetheless, the unemployment rate of PMETs remained lower than other occupations2, and the number of residents laid off from PMET positions was not large at 4,940.