Business News
Singapore's jobless rate falls to 2.2 per cent in March
Apr 30, 2010, 6:12 GMT
Singapore - Singapore's unemployment rate dropped to 2.2 per cent in March, down from 2.3 per cent three months earlier, as employment continued to grow amid a robust economic recovery, the government said Friday.
Total employment in the city-state was estimated to have grown by 34,000 jobs in the first quarter of 2010, the Ministry of Manpower said in a statement.
The numbers were lower than the gains of 37,500 jobs in the fourth quarter, which were driven by year-end festivities, but provided a strong contrast to the first quarter last year, when employment fell by 6,200 jobs, it said.
From January to March, the service sector contributed the bulk of the employment gains, adding 31,200 jobs.
Overall, 2,100 workers were laid off in the first quarter after 2,220 in the previous quarter, the ministry said.
In the first three months of 2009, a record number of 12,760 workers had been retrenched, it said.
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