Retrenchment In Singapore Hits Record High

Advance labour market figures released by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) on Friday (Jul 31) showed 4,500 workers were retrenched in Q2, up from 3,830 in the preceding quarter. It was the highest quarterly figure since Q4 2020, when there were 5,640 retrenchments. This also lifted the incidence of retrenchment to 1.9 per 1,000 employees from 1.6.

"The increase was concentrated in some outward-oriented sectors, driven primarily by business restructuring," said MOM. In June, MOM said that an ongoing restructuring in professional and knowledge-intensive sectors drove a notable shift in layoffs among degree holders in Q1, with the incidence of retrenchment rising sharply for this group.

…