SINGAPORE LATEST JOBS 2018

Singaporeans and permanent residents made up a slightly bigger proportion of the workforce as of December last year, at 67.2 per cent, up from 66.4 per cent a year earlier.SINGAPORE - As the economy picked up last year, the labour market also improved, with higher employment levels for locals.Layoffs fell, while incomes for Singaporeans also rose, both at the median and 20th percentile levels.Trends shown in the official full-year data, released by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) on Thursday (March 15), largely confirmed the preliminary data released in January.Singaporeans and permanent residents made up a slightly bigger proportion of the workforce as of December last year, at 67.2 per cent, up from 66.4 per cent a year earlier.This was due to fewer foreigners working here, as the marine shipyard and construction sectors shed 32,200 work permit holders.The number of Employment Pass holders also fell by 4,400, mainly from the professional service and information 

and communications sectors, which saw a growth in local employment, the MOM said.With 21,300 more locals in jobs last year, this brought the total number of people employed here, excluding maids, to 3,422,700 as of December.The ministry said it expects local employment to continue to grow this year, as the economy is expected to expand between 1.5 per cent and 3.5 per cent. But the 

opportunities will likely be uneven across sectors, with more hiring in sectors such as manufacturing, 

infocomms and media, logistics and wholesale trade.Overall, the annual average unemployment rate last year remained the same as the previous year's, at 2.1 per cent.For Singaporeans, it improved to 3 per cent, down from 3.2 per cent, while for Singaporeans and permanent residents combined, it also fell to 3 per cent from 3.1 per cent.Long-term unemployment, or the proportion of the resident labour force out of work for at least 25 weeks, remained stable, at 0.8 per cent.A plus point for jobseekers was the higher number of job openings last December than the year before, resulting in the ratio of vacancies to unemployed people improving slightly to 0.92 after taking into account seasonal variations. Vacancies are typically seen as an indicator of business sentiment.