Singapore - Unemployment





Singapore: Unemployment

Mnemonic LBU.ISGP
Unit Ths. #, NSA
Adjustments Not Seasonally Adjusted
Quarterly 6.31 %
Data 2023 Q4 71.3
2023 Q3 76.1

Series Information

Source Singapore Department of Statistics (DOS)
Release Unemployment - Final Results
Frequency Quarterly
Start Date 3/31/1992
End Date 12/31/2023

Singapore: Labor

Reference Last Previous Units Frequency
Unemployment 2023 Q4 71.3 76.1 Ths. #, NSA Quarterly
Unemployment Rate 2023 Q4 2 2 %, SA Quarterly
Wage & Salaries 2023 Q4 6,792 6,153 SGD, NSA Quarterly
Secondary Industries Employment 2022 484 450.2 Ths. # EOP Annual
Tertiary Industries Employment 2022 2,886 2,761 Ths. # EOP Annual
Labor Force 30 Jun 2022 3,754 3,607 Ths. # 365 days
Labor Force Employment 30 Jun 2022 3,656 3,483 Ths. # 365 days
Agriculture Employment 2017 3,887 3,851 # Annual
Total Employment 2017 3,669 3,673 Ths. #, End Annual

Release Information

For Singapore, a quarterly labor force survey, with standard measures (labor force, employment, unemployment, unemployment rate), detail for residents, vacancies, and retrenched workers.

  • Measurements:
    • Thousands of persons (Ths. #)
    • Percent (%)
  • Adjustment: Not seasonally adjusted (NSA)
  • Native frequency:
    • Quarterly
    • Annual (Comprehensive Labor Force Survey)
  • Start dates:
    • Uniformly 1992Q1
    • As early as 1970

Survey coverage includes private households on the main island of Singapore, but excludes (a) workers living in construction worksites, dormitories and workers' quarters at the workplace and (b) persons commuting from abroad to work in Singapore. Estimates of the total labor force synthesize data on residents and on the foreign workforce, obtained from the survey and from administrative records, respectively.

The survey covers a sample of 10,200 households every month. Respondents can complete the survey on-line via the internet, by telephone, or by face-to-face interviews.

The reference period is the week preceding the date of the survey interview.

Definitions

Labor force
Persons aged 15 years and over who are either employed (i.e., working) or unemployed (i.e., available and actively looking for work) during the reference period. This group is also known as the economically active population.
Employed persons
Persons aged 15 years and over who, during the reference period:
  • Work for one hour or more either for pay, profit or family gains; or
  • Have a job or business to return to but are temporarily absent because of illness, injury, breakdown of machinery at workplace, labour management dispute or other reasons; or
  • Are members of the Singapore Armed Forces including full-time National Servicemen, unless otherwise specified.
Unemployed persons
Persons aged 15 years and over who are not working but are available for work and are actively looking for a job during the reference period. They include persons who are not working but are taking steps to start their own business or taking up a new job after the reference period.
Resident
Also known as a local.
Foreign workforce
Retrenched worker
Job vacancy
Educational attainment
The highest level or standard which a person has passed or attained either through attendance at an institution of learning or through correspondence or self-study.
Migrant domestic worker (MDW)
Ministry of Manpower (MOM)

Moody's Analytics supplements

In NSA terms, we compute labor force and employment as identities from unemployment and the unemployment rate. The unemployment rate is reported in seasonally adjusted terms, but we construct SA counterparts for the remaining three measures.