Preliminary numbers released by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) on April 29 showed Singapore’s unemployment inched up to 2.4% in 1Q2020, from 2.3% the preceding quarter. Meanwhile, retrenchments for the quarter hit 3,000, compared to the 2,670 shed in 4Q19.
SINGAPORE (Apr 30): Layoffs and unemployment are expected to mount in Singapore this year despite fiscal measures such as the Jobs Support Scheme (JSS) which provides a blanket wage subsidy for all Singaporean workers from April till the end of the year.
“Notwithstanding the government’s support measures, some firms affected by the fallout from Covid-19 may still have to undertake labour cost adjustment measures such as putting workers on shorter work weeks or no-pay leave,” says MAS, which notes that employees in retail trade, F&B and recreation services are “the most vulnerable to being laid off”. This is because the labour market was already soft in end-2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic struck.
