How many of the “locals” employment change went to Singaporeans?
I refer to the article “Retrenchments at 5-year low, job vacancies on the rise: Manpower Ministry” (Straits Times, Jun 13).
It states that “But it has remained difficult for some groups of people to get back into a job.
The re-entry rate for residents in the first quarter – which is the share of residents who were laid off in the third quarter of last year and found work within six months – was 61 per cent, lower than 64 per cent in the same quarter last year.
Groups that saw below-average re-entry rates include professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs), and those who are 50 and older.”
As to “Total employment, excluding foreign domestic workers, grew slightly by 400 in the first quarter of this year from the previous quarter” – I don’t seem to be able to find any mention in the Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM) report about the statistics on the employment change for locals (Singaporeans and permanent residents (PRs)).
In this connection, according to the Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM) annual labour market report released in March – local employment increased by 21,300 in 2017.
However, according to the article “Population likely to be ‘significantly below’ 6.9m by 2030” (Straits Times, Mar 2) – last year, the number of new citizens and permanent residents (PRs) granted was 22,076 and 31,849, respectively.
So, how much of the local residents’ employment change in the last year and the first quarter of this year were to Singaporeans?
If we account for the foreign workers who were reclassified as resident workers when they became PRs or citizens – what was the employment change for Singaporeans?
Leong Sze Hian
