Singapore job growth high, unemployment low, vacancies rise despite more layoffs

Job growth remains high despite more layoffs

SINGAPORE: Employment growth stayed high, even though layoffs rose in the third quarter, said the Manpower Ministry PHOTO: ALPHONSUS CHERN 

Job openings increased, bucking the declines in the preceding two quarters. The seasonally adjusted vacancies rose by 13 per cent over the quarter to 51,500 in September this year. For every 100 job seekers, there were now 125 job openings, up from 91 in June and 105 in March this year.

But layoffs rose after declining in the preceding two quarters. This was one of the few higher quarterly redundancy figures reported in post-recessionary periods, but they remained substantially below recessionary highs.

The labour market in the city-state remained tight supported by domestic-oriented activities and tightening of foreign manpower controls, according to a report released by the Manpower Ministry’s research and statistics department.

The report entitled, Labour Market, Third Quarter 2012, said that employment growth remained high, while unemployment stayed low.

“Although layoffs rose in the third quarter, they remained substantially below recessionary highs,” it said.

It said job openings increased, resulting in a rise in the ratio of vacancies to job seekers.

The report said total employment grew 26,200 in the third quarter this year, moderating from an increase of 31,900 a year earlier and 31,700 in the second quarter.

For the first nine months this year, employment grew 85,100 from 85,000 a year earlier, it said.

It said the growth in employment in services slowed to 12,700 in the third quarter from 21,200 in the corresponding period last year, while in manufacturing it was down from 3,900 to 3,700. Boosted by public infrastructure projects, construction continued to register high employment increase of 9,700, up from 6,700 a year earlier, it said.

The report said unemployment rates remained low, reflecting high manpower demand amid the tightening of foreign manpower controls.

The seasonally-adjusted overall unemployment rate dipped to 1.9% in September from 2% in the year-ago quarter, while the unemployment rates for residents and Singapore citizens were unchanged at 2.8% and 3% respectively.

Layoffs rose after declining in the preceding two quarters. This was one of the few higher quarterly redundancy figures reported in post-recessionary periods, but they remained substantially below recessionary highs. — Bernama

Labour Market, 3rd Quarter 2012

Unemployment Remained Low While Job Vacancies Increased

1. The labour market remained tight supported by domestic-oriented activities and tightening in foreign manpower controls. Employment growth stayed high, while unemployment remained low. Although layoffs rose in the third quarter, they remained substantially below recessionary highs. Meanwhile, job openings increased, resulting in a rise in job vacancies to job seekers ratio. These are the key findings from the “Labour Market, Third Quarter 2012” report released by the Ministry of Manpower’s Research and Statistics Department.
   
   Main Findings 
2. Total employment grew by 26,200 in the third quarter of 2012, moderating from the growth of 31,900 in the same period last year and 31,700 in the second quarter of 2012. In the first nine months of 2012, total employment grew by 85,100, similar to the increase of 85,000 in the corresponding period last year.
3. The growth in employment in services slowed from 21,200 in the third quarter of 2011 to 12,700 in the third quarter of 2012 and manufacturing from 3,900 to 3,700. Boosted by public infrastructure projects, construction continued to register high employment increase of 9,700, up from 6,700 in the same quarter last year.
4. Unemployment rates remained low, reflecting high manpower demand amid the tightening in foreign manpower controls. The seasonally adjusted overall unemployment rate dipped marginally to 1.9% in September 2012 from 2.0% a quarter ago, while the unemployment rates for residents and Singapore citizens were unchanged at 2.8% and 3.0% respectively.
5. Resident long-term unemployment rate declined slightly over the year from 0.5% in September 2011 to 0.4% in September 2012, returning to its low (for September periods) in 2007 before the 2009 recession.
6. Layoffs rose after declining in the preceding two quarters. This was one of the few higher quarterly redundancy figures reported in post-recessionary periods, but they remained substantially below recessionary highs.
7. Job openings increased, bucking the declines in the preceding two quarters. The seasonally adjusted vacancies rose by 13% over the quarter to 51,500 in September 2012. With the rise in job vacancies, the seasonally adjusted ratio of job vacancies to unemployed persons rose over the quarter in September 2012, after declining in the two preceding quarters. For every 100 job seekers, there were now 125 job openings, up from 91 in June and 105 in March 2012.
   
   For More Information
8. The report is available for online on MOM's Statistics and Publications webpage. 

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It’s a Smart, Smart, Smart World

It’s a Smart, Smart, Smart World

 The country that tops the IQ charts isn't the US or in Europe, it's Singapore

Before I get to the dreary budget debates in Washington, here’s a bright spot of good news: We’re getting smarter.

Damon Winter/The New York Times

Nicholas D. Kristo

My readers are all above average. But if I ever had average readers, they would still be brilliant compared with Americans of a century ago. 

The average American in the year 1900 had an I.Q. that by today’s standards would measure about 67. Since the traditional definition of mental retardation was an I.Q. of less than 70, that leads to the remarkable conclusion that a majority of Americans a century ago would count today as intellectually disabled. 

The trend of rising intelligence is known as the “Flynn Effect,” named for James R. Flynn, the New Zealand scholar who pioneered this area of research. Countless other scholars worldwide have replicated his findings, and it is now accepted science — although there is still disagreement about its causes and significance. 

The average American I.Q. has been rising steadily by 3 points a decade. Spaniards gained 19 points over 28 years, and the Dutch 20 points over 30 years. Kenyan children gained nearly 1 point a year. 

Those figures come from a new book by Flynn from Cambridge University Press called “Are We Getting Smarter?” It’s an uplifting tale, a reminder that human capacity is on the upswing. The implication is that there are potential Einsteins now working as subsistence farmers in Congo or dropping out of high school in Mississippi who, with help, could become actual Einsteins. 

The Flynn Effect should upend some of the smugness among those who have historically done well in global I.Q. standings. For example, while there is still a race gap, black Americans are catching up — and now do significantly better than white Americans of the “greatest generation” did in the 1940s. 

Another problem for racists: The country that tops the I.Q. charts isn’t America or in Europe. It’s Singapore, at 108. (The reason may have to do with Singapore’s Confucian respect for learning and its outstanding school system.) 

None of this means that people today are born smarter. While I.Q. measures something to do with mental acuity, it’s a rubbery and imperfect metric. It’s heavily shaped by environment — potential is diminished when children suffer from parasites or lead in air pollution. As a result, the removal of lead from gasoline may have added 6 points to the I.Q. of American children, according to Dr. Philip Landrigan, a pediatrician and epidemiologist at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. 

Flynn argues that I.Q. is rising because in industrialized societies we give our brains a constant mental workout that builds up what we might call our brain sinews. 

“The brains of the best and most experienced London taxi drivers,” Flynn writes, citing a 2000 study, have “enlarged hippocampi, which is the brain area used for navigating three-dimensional space.” In a similar way, he argues, modern life gives our brains greater exercise than when we were mostly living on isolated farms. 

It’s not that our ancestors were dummies, and I confess to doubts about the Flynn Effect when I contemplate the slide from Shakespeare to “Fifty Shades of Grey.” Likewise, politics does not seem to benefit: One academic study found a deterioration in the caliber of discussions of economics in presidential debates from 1960 to 2008. 

But Flynn argues that modern TV shows and other entertainment can be cognitively demanding, and video games like those of the Grand Theft Auto series probably require more thought than solitaire. (No, don’t call the police. My teenage kids are not holding me hostage and forcing me to write this paragraph.) 

Back to the debates in Washington. To me, the lesson from this research is the vast amount of human potential globally that is available if we can nurture and stimulate kids who now get neglected. 

One challenge is to preserve foreign aid. Some 61 million children around the world still don’t attend even primary school, and President Obama in his 2008 campaign was right to propose a global education fund, in part as an alternative to extremist religious schools. I’m hoping the idea doesn’t get dropped forever. 

The even greater challenge is nation-building at home at a time when funding for schools is being slashed, about 7,000 high school students drop out every day, and there are long waits to get into early-childhood-enrichment programs like Head Start. Literacy programs can help break cycles of poverty and unleash America’s potential — and a single F-35 fighter could pay for more than four years of the Reading Is Fundamental program in the entire United States. 

As we make hard budget choices, let’s remember that the essential fact of the world is that talent is universal and opportunity is not. I hope we’re finally smart enough to try to remedy that.

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Singapore job growth high, unemployment low, vacancies rise despite more layoffs

Japan's war planes F-15 fighter jets against a Chinese suveilance plane over Diaoyu Islands

This handout picture taken by the Japan Coast Guard on Thursday shows a Chinese government plane flying near the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea. Japan scrambled fighter jets after the Chinese plane entered airspace over the islands at the center of a dispute between Tokyo and Beijing. Photo: AFP

China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Thursday that it is "normal" for a Chinese marine surveillance plane to patrol the airspace over the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea, prompting Japan to scramble fighter jets to the area.



According to a statement on the website of the State Oceanic Administration (SOA), China's Haijian B-3837 aircraft reached the airspace over the Diaoyu Islands at 10 am Thursday, joining the flotilla of marine surveillance ships Haijian-50, Haijian-46, Haijian-66 and Haijian-137 to patrol the area.

The SOA said that during the patrol, the flotilla stated the Chinese government's position on the islets to the Japanese vessels, demanding they leave the area. On its website, it also posted two photos of the islands shot from the airplane.

The aircraft is a twin-engine propeller plane used for surveillance or monitoring of fishing activities.

The incident prompted Japan's military to scramble eight F-15 fighter jets, Japan's Defense Ministry said. Japanese officials later said the Chinese aircraft had left the area, Reuters reported.

The Japanese Defense Ministry said it was the first time that a Chinese plane had entered "Japanese airspace" since Japan started recording similar incidents in 1958, Kyodo News reported. Japan later protested to China over the incident.

China's foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a regular press briefing Thursday that it's normal for China's marine surveillance planes to fly in the airspace over the Diaoyu Islands, as Diaoyu Island and its affiliated islets are China's inherent territory.

"China demands Japan stop its illegal activities in the waters and airspace of the Diaoyu Islands," Hong stated.

Han Zhiqiang, charge d'affaires at the Chinese embassy in Tokyo, said China hadn't accepted the Japanese side's diplomatic representation over the incident, the China News Service reported.

Liu Jiangyong, a vice dean of the Institute of Modern International Relations at Tsinghua University, told the Global Times that after the US handed Okinawa over to Japan in 1972, Tokyo brought the Diaoyu Islands into its Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ).

"Sending a plane to the area was a breakthrough in terms of challenging Japan's ADIZ, which was arbitrarily drawn up by Tokyo a long time ago," said Liu, noting that the struggle over the Diaoyu Islands would enter a new phase following China's success in carrying out routine patrols in the waters of the islets.

Liu also highlighted the increasing risk in terms of conflicts brought about by air confrontations.

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