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SINGAPORE: Total employment growth in Singapore was stronger in 2025 than it was in 2024, with unemployment and retrenchments remaining low and stable, according to advance labour market figures for the year released by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) on Thursday (Jan 29).
Singapore’s total employment growth in 2025 was 57,300, more than the previous year's figure of 44,500. Resident employment growth was concentrated in financial services and in health and social services, MOM said.
Non-resident employment growth continued to be driven by the construction sector, largely comprising work permit holders.
The total employment growth in the fourth quarter of 2025 was 19,600. While lower than the stronger-than-anticipated growth of 25,100 in the third quarter, MOM noted that it remained higher than employment growth in the first half of 2025 (2,300 in the first quarter and 10,400 in the second).
Employment growth in the fourth quarter was also higher than the corresponding periods in 2024 (7,700) and 2023 (3,900).
RETRENCHMENTS
The incidence of retrenchment in 2025 remained low at 1.5 retrenched per 1,000 employees in the fourth quarter of 2025, which was comparable to the third quarter's 1.6.
The fourth quarter saw 3,600 employees retrenched, similar to the previous quarter's 3,670.
MOM noted that retrenchments were stable across major sectors, with a majority occurring due to business reorganisation or restructuring.
For the full year of 2025, the incidence of retrenchment increased slightly to 6.2 retrenched per 1,000 employees (14,400), from 5.9 retrenched per 1,000 employees (13,020) in 2024.
This was driven mainly by retrenchments in transportation and storage, and financial services.
"The increase largely reflects higher retrenchments earlier in the first three quarters of 2025 compared to the preceding year. Throughout 2025, business reorganisation or restructuring remained the primary reason for retrenchments," MOM said.
UNEMPLOYMENT RATES
MOM said that the overall unemployment rate of 2.0 per cent in December 2025 was broadly unchanged from September 2025, which was also at 2.0 per cent.
Resident and citizen unemployment rates were at 2.9 per cent and 3 per cent in December 2025 respectively, from 2.8 per cent and 3.1 per cent in September.
The full-year unemployment rate for the year remained low at 2.0 per cent overall, broadly similar to those seen over the past two years and "reflecting the broadly stable unemployment rates throughout 2025", said MOM.
OUTLOOK
In its outlook for the first quarter of 2026, MOM said that business expectations suggest continued expansion for the labour market, albeit amid increased hiring caution.
The share of firms expecting to hire in the next three months edged down slightly from 44.1 per cent in September 2025 to 43.3 per cent in December 2025.
"At the same time, a larger share of firms expects to raise wages over the same period, rising from 19.3 per cent to 26.4 per cent, pointing to improving business outcomes and continued competition for labour in certain areas."
While the share of firms expecting to retrench workers also increased from 2.3 per cent to 4.3 per cent over the same period, it remains low, suggesting selective workforce adjustments rather than broad-based job cuts, the ministry added.
"While the labour market continues to expand and remain tight, employers and workers should continue to adapt and transform so as to seize new opportunities," said MOM.
The labour market report for the fourth quarter of 2025 will be released in mid-March 2026, it said.
