Singapore’s workforce grew faster in the third quarter of 2026 than in the quarter before, yet the number of people let go through retrenchment edged up as well. For anyone with a job to protect, a household to support or a hiring decision to make, that mix of expansion and layoffs deserves a careful read.
In this article we will explore what the Ministry of Manpower’s advance release says, how to read its unemployment and retrenchment numbers, and what workers and employers can sensibly do next.
The Third-Quarter Headline Figures
The Ministry of Manpower published its Labour Market Advance Release for the third quarter on 30 October 2026. The figures are preliminary, which means they can be revised when fuller data arrive, so it is wise to treat each number as a close estimate and not as a final verdict. Total employment, which excludes migrant domestic workers, grew by 27,700 in the quarter. That compares with growth of 11,400 in the second quarter of 2026 and 25,100 in the third quarter of 2025. By simple arithmetic, the latest gain is more than double the previous quarter’s and 2,600 higher than the same quarter a year earlier.
Advance Releases and Their Limits
An advance release is a quick first look that MOM publishes before its detailed report. It carries headline counts for employment, unemployment and retrenchments, together with a survey of what employers expect to do in the coming months. It does not carry job vacancies or wage growth. Those will appear in the Labour Market Report 3Q 2026, which is due in mid-December 2026. Anyone who wants to judge whether employers are posting more openings, or whether pay is keeping up with the cost of living, will need to wait for that fuller document before drawing conclusions.
Figures at a Glance
The table below gathers the main readings from the release in one place, with the comparison point MOM gave for each.
| Measure | Latest reading | Comparison given |
| Employment growth, Q3 2026 | 27,700 | 11,400 in Q2 2026; 25,100 in Q3 2025 |
| Overall unemployment, September 2026 | 2.0 percent | Unchanged |
| Resident unemployment, September 2026 | 3.0 percent | 2.9 percent in August |
| Citizen unemployment, September 2026 | 3.1 percent | 3.0 percent in August |
| Retrenchments, Q3 2026 | 4,800 | 4,620 in Q2 2026 |
| Retrenchment incidence | 2.0 per 1,000 employees | Unchanged |
| Firms expecting to raise wages | 19.9 percent | 16.9 percent in August |
| Firms expecting to hire in the next three months | 42.3 percent | 30.5 percent in August |
| Firms expecting to retrench | 3.1 percent | 2.8 percent in August |
Read down the right-hand column and the picture is mixed rather than gloomy. Hiring is up, employer confidence about hiring and pay has improved, and the share of people out of work has barely moved. At the same time, the retrenchment count and the share of firms planning retrenchments both ticked higher, which is why MOM chose cautious language in its own commentary.
Preliminary Numbers and Revisions
The word preliminary deserves a moment. Statistical agencies publish early estimates so that policymakers, employers and the public are not waiting months for any information at all, and the trade-off is that some figures shift slightly when late data come in. Small changes are normal and rarely alter the story. If you quote these numbers to a colleague or a client, say that they come from the advance release, and look again when the December report is published, since that is where vacancies and wage growth will also be reported.
Resident and Non-Resident Hiring Diverge
Employment growth in the quarter was not shared evenly across the workforce. MOM noted that both resident and non-resident employment grew faster than in the second quarter, but that most of the total came from non-residents. For a Singapore citizen or permanent resident, that distinction matters more than the headline number.
Non-Resident Workers Account for Most of the Growth
According to the release, the bulk of the increase in non-resident employment was in construction and manufacturing. Those are sectors where demand for labour tends to follow project pipelines and production schedules, and where employers rely heavily on work permit holders. When orders or building projects pick up, headcount can rise quickly. When they slow, it can fall just as fast, which is one reason non-resident employment is often the more volatile part of the employment figures.
Because work passes are managed through quotas, levies and eligibility rules set by the Government, the mix of resident and non-resident hiring can also shift when those rules are adjusted. The release does not discuss policy changes, so readers should not infer one from the numbers. It is simply a reminder that a rise in total employment says little by itself about how many of those jobs are open to local jobseekers. A site supervisor role in construction and a software engineering role in a bank may both count as one job in the totals, but they are open to very different candidates.
Local Employment Leans on Essential and Public Services
MOM said resident employment growth was mainly supported by essential services and public services, while outward-oriented sectors stayed subdued. The release does not list every job type under these labels, but essential services generally cover areas that people need whatever the economic climate, and public services cover work in government and related bodies. These are steady employers rather than fast-growing ones.
MOM defines outward-oriented sectors as information and communications, financial services and manufacturing. These are industries that sell heavily to customers outside Singapore, so they feel swings in global demand and corporate spending first. A resident professional looking for a job in one of them may find the market harder than a strong employment headline suggests. By contrast, someone with skills that carry over into healthcare, education support, public-sector roles or other essential work may find more open doors, although pay and career paths will differ and need checking case by case.
For employers the same pattern carries a message. If your business sits in one of the subdued sectors, experienced residents who have been through restructuring may be available to hire, and some will be open to roles slightly different from their last one. If you hire in construction or manufacturing, expect continued reliance on non-resident labour to remain a feature of the sector, while planning how to build a local pipeline through apprenticeships, mid-career conversion and structured training. Each firm will weigh the costs differently, but ignoring the divide between the two groups of workers is rarely a good strategy.
Reading Unemployment Rates Correctly
Unemployment figures are easy to quote and easy to misread, so it helps to separate the three rates that MOM reports and to be clear about what each one measures.
Overall, Resident and Citizen Rates
The overall rate covers everyone in the labour force, including non-residents on work passes. Many of those workers are in Singapore only while they hold a job and typically return home when a contract ends, so they often do not register as unemployed. That is why the overall rate tends to sit below the resident rate. The resident rate counts citizens and permanent residents, and the citizen rate narrows the group to citizens alone. Neither the resident nor the citizen rate includes the foreign workers whose presence lifts the overall employment total, so the two sets of numbers can tell different stories in the same month.
For September 2026, MOM reported an overall rate of 2.0 percent, unchanged from August. The resident rate was 3.0 percent, up from 2.9 percent in August, and the citizen rate was 3.1 percent, up from 3.0 percent. If you want to know how likely a local worker is to be looking for work, the resident and citizen rates are the better guide, and the overall rate is the more flattering one.
Weighing a Tenth of a Point
A rise of 0.1 percentage point is small. Survey-based rates move in tiny steps because of sampling and rounding, and the figures here are preliminary. One month of upward drift is not a turning point, and it would be a mistake to treat it as proof that conditions have worsened.
What deserves attention is the direction over several months. If resident and citizen rates keep edging up while the overall rate holds steady, that would suggest that the burden of job searching is falling on locals even as total employment grows. Unemployment also tends to lag retrenchments, because the rate rises only after people have searched for a while without success. Readers should therefore look at the retrenchment numbers alongside the unemployment rates and not in isolation.
Gaps That the Rate Does Not Show
The unemployment rate counts people who are without work, available to start and actively looking. It leaves out someone who has given up searching, and it says nothing about people who hold a job that pays less or uses fewer skills than their previous one. A retrenched manager who takes a lower-paid post to cover the bills is counted as employed, even though the household has taken a real hit. The rate also does not show how long people stay unemployed, which is often the more telling measure of stress. These limits are why the rates should be read together with retrenchment counts, wage data and vacancy figures when they become available.
Retrenchments, Their Causes and the Employer Outlook
The release reports 4,800 retrenchments in the third quarter, compared with 4,620 in the second quarter. By simple arithmetic that is 180 more, a small increase in absolute terms. MOM added that the retrenchment incidence stayed at 2.0 per 1,000 employees, unchanged.
Concentration of Retrenchments
The two statements fit together once you remember that incidence is a ratio. The count rose by 180 while the number of employees also grew, so the share of employees affected did not change. That is reassuring in one sense, since layoffs are not spreading faster than the workforce is growing. It is less comforting in another, because incidence holding steady at a time of strong job growth shows that retrenchment is still part of the picture.
MOM named business reorganisation as the main driver. Reorganisation covers restructuring of teams, consolidation of functions and changes in how a firm operates, and it can hit a company that is otherwise profitable. Retrenchments stayed elevated in the outward-oriented sectors of information and communications, financial services and manufacturing. That lines up with the subdued resident hiring in the same sectors and suggests that workers there face more churn than the national averages imply.
Employer Expectations in September
The survey of employers, taken in September, points in two directions at once. The share of firms expecting to raise wages was 19.9 percent, up from 16.9 percent in August. The share expecting to hire in the next three months was 42.3 percent, up from 30.5 percent in August, a month in which the figure had itself been below July’s level. The share expecting to retrench was 3.1 percent, up from 2.8 percent in August.
Using simple arithmetic on those numbers, hiring intentions rose by 11.8 percentage points, wage intentions by 3.0 points and retrenchment intentions by 0.3 points. The hiring jump is the largest by far. Even so, these are shares of firms and not counts of workers, and a survey of intentions is not a forecast. Plans change when orders change. A sensible reading is that many firms are reshuffling their workforces, cutting in some places while adding in others, and that the net result favours hiring for now.
For a jobseeker, the practical lesson is to apply widely during a period when more firms say they intend to hire, and not to wait for the perfect opening. For a current employee, the rise in wage expectations is a useful backdrop for the next pay review, though it does not guarantee that your own employer is among the nearly one in five planning increases. Readers should also remember that the survey asks about intentions over a short window, and that stated plans often shift once orders, costs or exchange rates change.
Churn Behind the Headline
It may seem odd that retrenchments can rise in the same quarter that employment jumps, but this is how a changing economy works. Firms that restructure may let some people go while hiring others with different skills, and workers who leave one sector may be absorbed by another. The net employment figure hides this movement. For the individual, though, the net figure is no comfort: a person who loses a job in financial services is not helped by new construction hiring that requires different skills and, in many cases, different work passes. This is the practical reason MOM links its monitoring of retrenchments to support schemes aimed at retraining and redeployment.
MOM’s Assessment and the Support It Pointed To
MOM summed up the quarter in measured terms. It said the labour market continued to expand in 3Q 2026, with conditions uneven across sectors. It then flagged that the rise in retrenchments, along with the rise in firms’ retrenchment expectations, pointed to emerging weaknesses that warrant close monitoring. Ministries rarely use language like that unless they want employers and workers to pay attention.
A Cautious Reading of the Data
The phrase worth dwelling on is uneven. The expansion in jobs is real, but it leans on non-resident hiring in construction and manufacturing and on resident hiring in essential and public services. The sectors most tied to global trade and finance are where retrenchments remain elevated. Anyone planning a career move, a property purchase or a major commitment should ask which of those groups their own job resembles, and not rely on the national average.
A practical test is to look at your own employer and team. Is the business growing its headcount, holding steady or reorganising? Are your skills used across many industries, or only in one? Does your role depend on overseas customers? Honest answers to these questions will tell you more about your own risk than a national statistic can. People in steady roles can still make sensible plans, but those in exposed ones may want to move earlier on training and savings.
Schemes That MOM Named
MOM said it will review existing schemes and strengthen support where appropriate. It cited three by name. The first is the SkillsFuture Workforce Development Grant, including its Job Redesign+ component, which, going by the name, is aimed at helping employers redesign jobs and develop their staff. The second is GRIT, a scheme for 2026 graduates. The third is the SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support scheme, which is meant to help people who are between jobs.
The release as summarised here does not give amounts, eligibility rules or application windows for any of them. Terms of this kind can change, so check with SkillsFuture Singapore, Workforce Singapore or MOM for the latest conditions before making plans around any support.
What the Release Leaves Unsaid
It is worth noting what MOM did not claim. It did not say that the labour market is weakening, only that there are emerging weaknesses to watch. It did not announce new schemes, only a review and a willingness to strengthen support where appropriate. And it gave no timetable for that review in the material summarised here. Readers should expect further announcements to come through MOM and the relevant agencies, and should be wary of any message, particular offer or website that claims to give early access to new jobseeker payments. Official support is communicated through government channels, and no legitimate scheme asks for upfront fees to qualify.
Preparing for an Uncertain Job Market
None of the figures call for alarm, but they do reward preparation. The steps below are general information, not advice for a specific situation, and an employer, a union or the relevant agency can speak to individual circumstances.
Employees First
Keep your CV current while things are calm, since it is much harder to write one well under pressure. Record your recent achievements, training and any measurable results as they happen. Build a savings buffer that could carry your household through a gap between jobs; how large that should be depends on your fixed costs and dependants, and is worth discussing with a financial adviser if you are unsure. It also helps to ask your manager or HR, in a calm and routine way, about the direction of your team and what skills the business wants to grow.
Use SkillsFuture credit and approved courses to add skills that employers in your target sector are asking for. Check eligibility and funding rules with the official agencies, because they differ by course and by person. If you work in an outward-oriented sector, think about which of your skills are portable to areas with steadier hiring, and hedge by exploring them before you need to.
Networking matters more than people admit. Many roles are filled through referrals and conversations long before they are advertised, so keep in touch with former colleagues, join professional groups in your field and offer help when you can. A short, specific message asking for a conversation about how a sector is hiring usually gets a better response than a request for a job. Keep a note of what you learn, because patterns across several conversations are often more reliable than any single opinion.
Anyone Told Their Job May Go
Employers are generally required to notify MOM when they retrench employees, subject to conditions that MOM sets, and many employment contracts or collective agreements spell out retrenchment benefits. Whether a benefit applies, and how much, depends on your contract, your length of service and the terms agreed with your employer, so read the contract and check MOM’s guidance before signing anything. MOM and the tripartite partners have also published guidance on responsible retrenchment practices; check the current version with MOM.
Register early with Workforce Singapore’s career services, which offer job matching and career coaching, and ask HR about any outplacement support the company will provide. Moving quickly on applications while you still have an income is usually easier than starting from scratch.
If you are offered a package, take time to read each term, including the notice period, any payment in lieu of notice, treatment of leave balances and the point at which your service ends for the purpose of any benefit. Ask for the terms in writing. A union representative, if you are a member, or MOM’s advisory services can help you to check that the offer follows the rules. Avoid making major financial decisions in the first days after hearing the news, and review your monthly commitments so that you can see how long your savings and any payout would last.
Business Owners and Managers
Employers who expect to hire should plan for competition for skilled people, since the survey suggests many firms are looking at the same time. Offering clear progression, fair pay and flexibility on working arrangements helps in a tight contest for talent. Those who must cut costs have options before retrenchment, such as reduced overtime, redeployment, training during slow periods or job redesign. Where retrenchment is unavoidable, communicate early, follow the notification requirements and treat the people leaving fairly, as this protects your reputation and the morale of those who stay. For grants and job redesign support, check what is currently available through SkillsFuture Singapore and MOM.
Employers also benefit from keeping their own data in order. Know which roles are essential, which are likely to be automated or merged, and which employees have skills that could move across the business. A staff member who is retrained into an adjacent role can often be cheaper to keep than a new hire is to find, and the goodwill tends to carry through to the remaining team. If the business is hiring, be clear in the job advertisement about duties and development prospects, since candidates who have seen restructuring first hand will want to know where a role leads.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How Many People Were Retrenched in Singapore in the Third Quarter of 2026?
MOM’s advance release reported 4,800 retrenchments in the quarter, compared with 4,620 in the second quarter. The figures are preliminary and may be revised.
2. Is Singapore’s Unemployment Rate Going Up?
Not by much. The overall rate was unchanged at 2.0 percent in September 2026, while the resident rate rose to 3.0 percent from 2.9 percent and the citizen rate to 3.1 percent from 3.0 percent in August.
3. When Will Job Vacancy Figures for the Third Quarter Come Out?
Vacancies are not in the advance release. MOM has said they will be published in the Labour Market Report 3Q 2026, due in mid-December 2026.
4. Who Counts as a Resident in the Unemployment Statistics?
Resident figures cover Singapore citizens and permanent residents. Citizen figures cover citizens only, while the overall rate also includes non-residents who are in the labour force.
5. Can I Get Help Finding a Job After a Retrenchment?
Yes. Workforce Singapore offers career services, and MOM cited the SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support scheme among the measures it may strengthen. Check eligibility and current terms with the agencies directly.
6. Which Sectors Saw Elevated Retrenchments?
MOM said retrenchments stayed elevated in outward-oriented sectors, which it defines as information and communications, financial services and manufacturing. Business reorganisation was the main driver overall.
