Singapore: Labour market could improve in Q420 – UOB

In opinion of Economist Barnabas Gan at UOB Group, the labour market in Singapore is likely to improve during the October-December period.

Key Quotes

“Singapore’s overall unemployment rate rose further to 3.6% in the third quarter of 2020, according to the provisional data by the Ministry of Manpower. This marks the highest unemployment rate since 2004.”

“The unemployment rate among Singaporeans and permanent residents also rose in tandem to 4.7% and 4.9%, respectively. This translated to the total number of unemployed persons to 112,500, of which 97,700 are Singaporeans.”

“Despite the softening labour market, we note that the rise in retrenchment and overall unemployment rate has decelerated from previous readings.”

“Singapore’s labour market could improve in 4Q20, given the uptick in business sentiments and economic conditions. As such, we maintain our expectation for the unemployment rate to end at 3.5% in 4Q20.”