~ By Leong Sze Hian ~
I refer to the Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM) Employment Situation First Quarter report. (here)
It states that “An estimated 59,100 residents, including 52,800 Singapore citizens were unemployed in March 2012. The seasonally adjusted figures were 64,000 for residents and 57,700 for citizens”.
This means that about 90% of unemployed residents were Singaporeans.
Unemployment rate rose more for citizens
The seasonally adjusted overall unemployment rate also increased much more for citizens from 3.0% and 3.2%, from December 2011 to March 2012, compared to from 2.9% to 3.0% and 2.0% to 2.1%, for residents and the total workforce, respectively.
“Total employment is estimated to have grown by 27,400 in the first quarter of 2012. The increase was lower than the seasonal high of 37,600 in the fourth quarter and the 28,300 in the first quarter of 2011”