Chart of the Day: Guess which age group dragged unemployment rate

Are 30 year-old residents to be blamed?

According to MoM, the decline in unemployment rate was driven by residents in their 30s and mature residents aged 40 & over. The rate for younger residents aged below 30 increased.

The seasonally adjusted overall unemployment rate remained low at 1.9% in March 2013, compared with 1.8% in December 2012. The unemployment rate for residents rose to 2.9% from 2.7%, while the citizen unemployment rate was unchanged at 2.9%.

An estimated 57,700 residents including 50,000 Singapore citizens were unemployed in March 2013. The seasonally adjusted figures were 60,600 for residents and 52,900 for citizens.

On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, the resident unemployment rate was 2.7% in March 2013, slightly lower than the 2.8% in March 2012. Unemployment improved over the year for residents with below secondary, post-secondary (non-tertiary) and diploma & professional qualifications, while it increased for the secondary-educated and degree holders.