53% of Singaporeans reemployed in less than a month in 2010

Amid the robust economic performance, the incidence of workers laid off fell to a new low in 2010.

According to the "Redundancy and Re-employment, 2010" released by the Ministry of Manpower's Research and Statistics Department, re-employment prospects improved, with more securing new jobs within a shorter time.

In 2010, 9,800 workers were made redundant, down substantially from 23,430 during the recession in 2009. This translated to 5.7 workers made redundant for every 1,000 employees, less than half the 14 per 1,000 in 2009. Falling below the previous trough of 6.0 per 1,000 in 2007, this incidence rate represented a new low recorded since the start of the redundancy data series in 1998.

Workers from manufacturing remained the most vulnerable to redundancy, with 12 workers made redundant for every 1,000. This was significantly more than in services (3.5 per 1,000) and construction (5.4 per 1,000). With the sharp fall in layoffs in manufacturing from 13,840 in 2009 to 4,690 in 2010, its share of the redundancies declined to 48% from 59%. Construction laid off more workers (1,300 from 950), thereby gaining share from 4.1% to 13%. Services’ share edged up slightly from 37% to 39%, even as it experienced fewer redundancies (3,810 from 8,850).

Redundancies fell across all three broad occupational groups. While production & related workers registered the largest absolute decline in redundancies (from 11,330 to 4,900), they still formed the largest share of workers made redundant at 50% in 2010. They remained more vulnerable with 7.7 workers made redundant among every 1,000 workers, compared with 5.0 among professionals, managers, executives & technicians (PMETs) and 3.6 among clerical, sales & service workers. PMETs accounted for 35% or 3,450 of the workers displaced, while the remaining 15% or 1,450 were clerical, sales & service workers.

Reflecting the robust economic recovery, the share of workers made redundant due to recession declined sharply from 57% in 2009 to 17% in 2010. The redundancies in 2010 stemmed more from reorganisation of business (25%), restructuring of business processes for greater efficiency (23%) and poor business/business failures not due to recession (21%).

Residents formed 58% of the workers made redundant in 2010, down from 62% in 2009. This was lower than their composition in the workforce which remained at around 69% in 2010.

Re-employment prospects have improved, with more securing new jobs within a shorter time. Two in three (66%) residents made redundant in the first three quarters of 2010 were re-employed by December 2010 (i.e. within 12 months after redundancy), up slightly from the 65% recorded a year ago. Slightly over half (53%) of the re-employed residents secured their new job in less than a month, compared with 39% for the preceding cohort in 2009.