Singapore / Unemployment rate rose to 2.9 per cent in March

Singapore’s seasonally adjusted overall unemployment rate stayed low at 1.9 per cent in March, compared to the 1.8 per cent registered in December 2012.

The unemployment rate for Singapore residents rose to 2.9 per cent from 2.7 per cent while the citizen unemployment rate remained unchanged at 2.9 per cent.

Long-term unemployment also improved slightly over the year; 13,700 unemployed residents making up 0.6 per cent of the resident labour force in March 2013 had been looking for work for at least 25 weeks, down from 14,000, or 0.7 per cent, a year ago.

Total employment grew by 28,900 in the first quarter of 2013, substantially lower than the seasonal high increase of 44,000 in the last quarter of 2012 but slightly above the 27,200 in the first quarter of 2012.

This brought total employment to 3,386,500 in March 2013, which was a 4.0 per cent increase on-year.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor

via Job vacancies up, unemployment low: MOM – Channel NewsAsia.