Singapore: Third-Quarter Retrenchments Rise to 4,800, Highest Since Late 2020, Even as Employment Grows by 27,700

Singapore's Ministry of Manpower (MOM) released its Labour Market Advance Release for the third quarter of 2026 on 30 October: retrenchments rose from 4,620 in the second quarter to 4,800 in the third quarter, the highest quarterly figure since the pandemic peak quarter of the fourth quarter of 2020, when 5,640 people were retrenched. The incidence of retrenchment was unchanged at 2.0 per 1,000 employees. MOM said business reorganisation remained the main driver of retrenchments, which stayed elevated in selected outward-oriented sectors.

Retrenchment numbers by sector

By broad sector, Services recorded 4,000 retrenchments, up from 3,580 in the second quarter, while Manufacturing fell from 870 to 700 and Construction from 170 to 100. MOM named Information and Communications, Financial Services and Manufacturing among the outward-oriented sectors where retrenchments remained elevated. The third-quarter figures are preliminary; the full Labour Market Report for the third quarter, due in mid-December, will add detail on vacancies, labour turnover and re-entry rates among retrenched residents.

Unemployment edges up slightly

The seasonally adjusted overall unemployment rate held at 2.0% in September, unchanged from August, while the resident rate edged up from 2.9% to 3.0% and the citizen rate from 3.0% to 3.1%. MOM also noted that the share of firms expecting to retrench over the next three months edged up from 2.8% to 3.1%, pointing to emerging weaknesses in parts of the labour market that require close monitoring.

Employment still expanding

Alongside the rise in retrenchments, employment kept expanding: total employment, excluding migrant domestic workers, grew by 27,700 in the third quarter, well above the 11,400 added in the second quarter and the 25,100 added a year earlier, marking a 20th consecutive quarter of expansion, with non-resident employment accounting for most of the increase. The share of firms expecting to hire over the next three months rose from 30.5% in August to 42.3% in September, and the share expecting to raise wages rose from 16.9% to 19.9%. MOM's overall assessment: the labour market continued to expand, although conditions remained uneven across sectors.