Foreign Workers Accounted for 90% of Lower Employment in S’pore from Jan to Sept 2020

Throughout this eventful year, the Singapore government has been focused on two things.

Keeping people in Singapore healthy and making sure that Singaporeans stay employed.

On that end, they introduced a minimum salary for foreign employees, created JSS and JGI (Jobs Growth Incentive) to encourage employers to hire and retain local talents, and kept a tighter watch on firms who might’ve been unfairly discriminating against local talents.

And, it seems, their efforts are paying off.

Foreign Workers Accounted for 90% of Lower Employment in S’pore from Jan to Sept

According to an ST report on 17 Dec 2020, foreigners account for 90% of Singapore’s total employment contraction from Jan to Sep 2020.

Basically, it kind of means that for every 10 people who lose their job during this period, 9 of them are foreigners.

There is also a “strong rebound” in the employment of local talents, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) reveals.

It was added that the employment figures do not include foreign domestic workers.

The Numbers

According to the MOM, the number of people who are employed and working in Singapore from Jan to Sep 2020 fell by 158,700.

Out of the 158,700, 139,100 of them are non-residents.

Resident employment (Singapore citizens and PRs), on the other hand, fell by 19,600.

According to MOM’s data, the resident employment in Singapore rose to 2.34 million in Sep 2020, a 43,200 increase.

However, when compared to Sep 2019, it’s still lower by 0.4%.

The arts, entertainment and recreation sector saw a decline in resident employment. Meanwhile, public administration and education, health and social services, as well as the F&B and ICT sector, saw an increase in resident employment.

Meanwhile, non-resident employment continued to drop throughout the three quarters.

During Q3, the number of non-resident employment dropped by 72,300 and was seen more strongly in the following sectors:

• Construction
• Manufacturing
• Transportation and storage
• Administrative and support services

Retrenchment among PMETs rose from 2.7 to 3.7 per 1,000 workers while non-PMETs retrenchment rate held steady at 4.3 per 1,000 workers.

The Good News

MOM says that other indicators show that market conditions in Singapore are improving.

While the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate is still on the rise, it is doing so at a slower rate than before.

Residents in their 40s and 50s, as well as those who have secondary and below education, are the ones most affected.

Retrenchment has also risen to 9,120 in the 3rd quarter of this year, but MOM says its mostly caused by retrenchment in the air-transport related, arts, entertainment and recreation sectors.

Meanwhile, retrenchment in other sectors like F&B, wholesale trade and financial services has declined.

People Will Still Be Retrenched

While it’s looking good so far, Manpower Minister Josephine Teo cautions against relaxing too much.

We will still be seeing retrenchments, she said, and people will still be making transitions.

The important thing is to look into the future and identify the priorities to work on.

Permanent Secretary for Manpower Aubeck Kam also pointed out that “uncertainties in the economic environment and weak demand conditions will continue to weigh on the recovery of the labour market.”

Ms Teo added that employers must focus on building the local workforce and look for ways to transform and create new jobs.

Job seekers, on the other hand, must know where the opportunities are.

”We want job seekers to have greater awareness of where the opportunities are, and we want to give them strong support to transit into new roles and industries.”

For those who are interested, you might want to check out My Careers Future if you need help or advice on plotting out your career path for the next few years.

On a separate note, do you know that a new grant, the Covid-19 Recovery Grant, aimed at helping lower- and middle-income Singaporeans, will be out next year?

You can read more about it here.

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