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Singapore's New Jobs Tripled Last Year, Service Sector Most Optimistic in Job Growth.

Ministry of Manpower (MOM) recently released data showing that Singapore's unemployment rate among Singapore residents has dropped significantly from 4.3 per cent in 2009 to 3.1 per cent last year. The number of new jobs created for year 2010 is almost threefold of the 37,600 jobs created in 2009, when the financial crisis swept across the world.

Among the 112,500 positions created for last year, nearly half of them went to locals, surpassing the 41,800 mark registered the year before. Foreign employment rose by 53,000 over the year to stand at 31.4 per cent of the workforce in December last year. This figure, which excludes the count of foreign domestic workers, is a notch up from the 30.7 per cent a year ago. However, the growth in foreign worker hire, excluding foreign domestic workers, is lower than the 80,000 projected, according to Manpower Minister Mr Gan Kim Yong.

Singapore's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in the last quarter stood at 2.2 per cent, up marginally from the previous quarter's 2.1 per cent. On a year-on-year basis, the overall jobless rate averaged a healthy low of 2.2 per cent last year, down from the 3 per cent in 2009, as the Singapore economy rebounded strongly. Employers in Singapore added jobs at the fastest pace in the last quarter of 2010, resulting in about 30,600 people landing jobs in the last three months of last year. The services sector led in the hiring last year, adding 109,500 workers, as opposed to the 55,600 increase in 2009. Jobs in the manufacturing sector, meanwhile, declined by 2,700. However, this was much lower than the 43,700 loss the year before.

According to the latest Business Expectations Survey, also released by the Government, growth in the services sector continues to be strongly optimistic in the next six months. The amusement and recreation industry was found to be the most optimistic. Resorts World Sentosa, for instance, said it held a very positive business outlook this year. The resort's assistant director of communications, Mr Robin Goh, expressed, "We've surpassed our target of attracting 15 million visitors in our first year of operations and, as more of our attractions are slated to open within the next two years, we're looking to recruit another 2,000 to 3,000 more staff, in addition to our 12,000 employees."