Employment growth in Singapore remained low in the first half of 2016 while unemployment and redundancies have risen, says the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), which expects total workforce growth ahead to remain moderated given demographic trends affecting the local workforce. “Barring unexpected shocks in the external economy, MOM expects labour demand to remain modest in 2016,” says the ministry in a Thursday statement. “In line with the weaker global growth outlook, hiring is expected to be cautious in the manufacturing sector, as well as other externally-oriented services sectors such as financial & insurance services and wholesale trade.” Based on its review of the first half of 2016, additional observations made by the ministry include:

Slowdown in local employment growth rates

Local employment remained flat in the first half of 2016 and rose 0.4% in 2Q, which was significantly lower than the growth of about 4% in 2Q13-14. MOM ......