SINGAPORE, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- Singapore's Ministry of Manpower announced on Friday that the country's seasonally adjusted overall unemployment rate grew to 2.1 percent in September, comparing to 2 percent in June.
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate for residents stayed unchanged at 2.9 percent, and that for citizens remained at 3 percent, according to the advance release of the Labour Market Report for the third quarter of 2018.
Despite the rise in unemployment rate, Singapore actually witnessed a pick-up in employment growth in the third quarter, as the total employment, excluding Foreign Domestic Workers, increased by 15,200 in the three months, comparing to the employment growth of 6,500 in the second quarter.
Given the growth in employment, the slightly elevated unemployment rates reflected the continued inflow of job seekers into the labor market, the ministry said in the report.
It added that the data suggests Singapore's labor market continued to improve in the third quarter, but it might bring bigger challenges to employers to fill vacancies. The ministry also emphasized the importance for Singaporean workers and businesses to be agile and responsive to market demands, to better deal with the ongoing economic restructuring and the changing demand for jobs.
Statistics show Singapore recorded 3,657,000 of total labor force in 2017, in which 2,269,700 were resident labor force.
