Singapore job vacancies increased by 36%

Over the year, job vacancies increased up to 50,200 in September 2010, the highest recorded since the comparable series started in March 2006.

After adjusting for seasonality, job vacancies dipped slightly by 1.7% from the previous quarter, after rising for five straight quarters, according to the Ministry of Manpower. With the decline in unemployment, the ratio of job vacancies to unemployed persons edged up to a seasonally adjusted 1.06 in September 2010 from 1.04 in June 2010. This marked the sixth straight quarter of increase after the low of 0.36 in March 2009.

The monthly resignation and recruitment rates averaged 2.1% and 3.0% respectively in the third quarter of 2010, up from 1.8% and 2.5% in the same period last year. With seasonal adjustment, both rates dipped over the quarter by 0.1%-point, after rising generally for four consecutive quarters.

Labour productivity growth over the year moderated to 6.3% in the third quarter from 15% in the previous quarter, as the effects of the cyclical upturn begin to wear off. Growth in nominal earnings over the year eased to 5.4% in the third quarter of 2010 from 5.8% in the second quarter of 2010. Coupled with a slight increase in inflation in the third quarter (at 3.4% compared to second quarter’s 3.1%), the increase in real earnings was 2.1%, which was 0.5%-point lower than in the previous quarter.