It was a mixed picture for the labour market as employment continued to grow but unemployment, including long-term unemployment, and retrenchment numbers went up in the third quarter.

According to finalised data in a Manpower Ministry (MOM) report released yesterday, total employment, excluding foreign domestic workers, grew by 38,600 in the first three quarters of the year, the highest in five years. This reflected the rebound in the construction sector. Excluding that sector, employment growth in the first nine months of the year (30,400) kept pace with the same period last year (30,300).

In the third quarter specifically, total employment grew by 21,700, revised from October's flash estimate of 22,400.

This is still more than three times compared with the previous quarter (6,200) and higher than the same period last year (16,700).

But unemployment inched up quarter on quarter, with the seasonally adjusted jobless rate rising from 2.2 per cent to 2.3 per cent overall, from 3.1 to 3.2 per cent for citizens and permanent residents, and 3.2 to 3.3 per cent for Singaporeans.

The rates for residents and citizens were below the decade's peak in September 2009, the report noted.

The seasonally adjusted resident long-term unemployment rate for the third quarter also rose from 0.6 per cent to 0.7 per cent after two consecutive quarters of decline.

CAUTIOUS

MOM said this may have been a result of employers being more cautious in hiring, as can be seen in the smaller number of job vacancies this quarter.

The seasonally adjusted number of vacancies fell from 47,700 in June to 42,200 in September.

Speaking at a media briefing ahead of yesterday's report, Manpower Minister Josephine Teo said this hiring caution means job seekers may take more time to persuade employers to hire them.

Fewer vacancies also means job seekers take longer to find suitable openings.

Mrs Teo said: "You can have a situation where employment is going up, and yet because there is caution in hiring, unemployment also goes up because people take longer to get into a job though the vacancies are there."

This could also be due to older job seekers returning to the workforce, she added. "By virtue of the fact that more people are looking for a job, unemployment will also go up."

Retrenchments in the 12 months ending in September (10,490) were also lower than similar periods last year (11,900) and in 2017 (16,480).

Looking into the future, Mrs Teo expressed caution as the fall in job vacancies indicated confidence is still not strong and the Government has to work hard to reach out to companies that are still hiring and try to help them meet those hiring requirements.

She added: "I hope that confidence returns, and to my mind, we have to keep a very close watch over developments. There is still a fair bit of volatility."

This article was first published in The New Paper. Permission required for reproduction.