Singapore's unemployment rate slipped to 1.8%

As job vacancies rose 5.9%.

According to the Ministry of Manpower, unemployment remained low, reflecting the tight labour market. The seasonally adjusted overall unemployment rate was 1.8% in September 2013, down from 2.1% in June 2013. Similarly, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for residents decreased over the quarter from 2.9% to 2.6%, and from 3.1% to 2.8% for Singapore citizens.

Long-term unemployment increased to 0.6% of the resident labour force, up from 0.4% a year ago. Nevertheless, the long-term unemployment rate remained lower than the last recessionary high (0.9%) in September 2009.

Total employment rose by 33,100 in the third quarter of 2013, slightly below the gains of 33,700 in the previous quarter but higher than the 26,200 in the third quarter of 2012. This brought total employment to 3,453,300 in September 2013, 4.2% higher than a year ago.

2,710 workers were made redundant in the third quarter of 2013, lower than the 3,080 workers in the preceding quarter and 2,850 in the third quarter of 2012.

There were more job openings in September 2013. Seasonally adjusted job vacancies rose over the quarter by 5.9%, after declining 5.1% in June 2013. With more openings but fewer job seekers, the seasonally adjusted ratio of job vacancies to unemployed persons rose to 1.41 in September 2013, following a decline from 1.21 in March 2013 to 1.12 in June 2013.