SINGAPORE – Retrenchments in Singapore rose to a post-pandemic high in the second quarter of 2026, while job vacancies continued to fall.
The number of laid-off workers reached 4,620 in the second quarter, the highest level since the fourth quarter of 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic. This means about two workers were retrenched for every 1,000 employees.
This is up from 3,830 retrenchments – or about 1.6 retrenched workers for every 1,000 employees – in the first quarter.
The increase was driven by businesses going through restructuring exercises in outward-oriented sectors like manufacturing, information and communications, and financial services.
The labour market is also showing signs of softening, said the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), which released its labour report on Sept 21.
MOM director of manpower research and statistics Ang Boon Heng said the increase in retrenchments across the past two quarters is “something worth monitoring”, but that there are no signs yet that this trend will be sustained.
He added that the retrenchments are not broad-based across sectors and are concentrated mostly in outward-oriented sectors.
Retrenched workers were also taking longer to find new jobs. The proportion of those who found employment within six months stood at 54.9 per cent in the second quarter, down from 60.7 per cent in the first quarter.
However, close to 70 per cent of retrenched workers could find new jobs within a year.
Acting Minister for Manpower Jasmin Lau said on the sidelines of a visit to technology company Acronis: “Some workers are finding the transition into their next role taking slightly longer. This is a concern for some Singaporeans. Now there are certainly still job opportunities, but moving from one job to the next one can be challenging.”
She added that the Government will support workers to learn and adapt, and to prepare for roles that they can move into. This is done through career conversion programmes.
“Instead of learning a new skill and then hoping to find a job that uses it, workers train for actual roles that companies need,” she said.
“They learn on the job, gain real experience and build on the skills they already have.”
Acronis has supported more than 50 of its employees since 2024 through career conversion programmes, building new skills in cybersecurity, software development and artificial intelligence.
“This is the shift I hope we can all make together, learning new skills not just to protect what we have, but to open up more possibilities for what comes next,” Lau said.
While retrenchments rose, the number of job vacancies fell to 68,600 in June, from 73,300 in March. This mainly reflects a drop in vacancies for professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) in sectors such as financial services and information and communications, the MOM report said.
However, entry-level PMET vacancies remained “broadly stable and sizeable”, accounting for 45.3 per cent of all job openings in June.
Despite the overall decline, there are still more job vacancies than unemployed people, with 1.48 vacancies per unemployed person as at June.
Overall, Singapore’s labour market expanded in the second quarter, MOM said.
Total employment rose by 11,400, marking the 19th consecutive quarter of growth, it noted.
This was also an increase from the 9,400 in the first quarter.
However, resident employment growth in the three months to June slowed from the previous quarter.
Resident employment grew mainly in domestic-oriented sectors like transportation and storage, public administration and education, and health and social services, MOM said.
Some outward-oriented sectors, such as professional services, financial services, and information and communications, also saw growth.
Meanwhile, non-resident employment growth was driven by work permit holders in the construction and manufacturing sectors.
Although the long-term unemployment rate edged up, unemployment rates remained “low and stable” in June, MOM said.
The unemployment rate stood at 1.9 per cent overall and at 2.9 per cent for residents in June.
The resident long-term unemployment rate rose slightly to 1 per cent in June, up from 0.9 per cent in March.
MOM said: “Overall, the labour market remained resilient in the second quarter, with continued employment growth and low unemployment.
“However, conditions became less favourable for some resident workers as resident employment growth moderated, retrenchments increased and six-month re-entry outcomes weakened.”
Cautious outlook and softening labour market
Looking ahead, MOM said the labour market outlook is “positive but cautious”, according to its business expectation polls in July.
The poll noted that near-term hiring expectations improved across more sectors, with the share of companies intending to hire in the next three months rising to 48.7 per cent in July, up from 43.9 per cent in June.
However, the percentage of companies intending to raise wages also fell to 27.9 per cent in July, down from 29.3 per cent in June.
“Despite the improvement, both hiring and wage expectations remained below their February levels,” MOM added.
