SINGAPORE, March 15 (NNN-CNA) — For the first time, Singapore experienced employment growth amid an economic recession in 2009.

The Manpower Ministry (MOM) said the labour market was more resilient than in previous downturns, supported by the Resilience Package and concerted tripartite efforts to save jobs.

Although there were job losses in the first half of 2009, employment rebounded quickly and recovered in the second half of the year.

As locals experienced employment gains while foreign employment declined, the share of foreigners in employment fell slightly from a year ago.

Total employment grew by 37,500 in the fourth quarter of 2009, which is more than double the gains of 14,000 in the preceding quarter. The figure is also higher than the 21,300 in the fourth quarter of 2008.

For the whole of 2009, total employment increased by 37,600 or 1.3 per cent. Job gains in the second half of the year more than offset the losses in the first half.

The bulk of employment gains came from the services sector which added 31,500 workers in the fourth quarter, supported by hiring for the year-end festivities and the integrated resorts.

For the whole of 2009, services employment rose by 55,600.

Construction added 4,600 workers in the fourth quarter, bringing its total gains to 25,100 in 2009.

After shedding workers for four consecutive quarters, manufacturing employment rose by 700 in the fourth quarter. As the employment gains were not sufficient to offset the earlier losses, manufacturing employment contracted by 43,700 last year.

Despite the economic contraction last year, local employment increased by 41,800 or 2.2 per cent. In contrast, foreign employment declined by 4,200 or 0.4 per cent.

MOM said there were 1,053,500 foreigners forming 35.2 per cent of the total employment in December. Excluding foreign domestic workers, the foreigners’ share of employment was 30.7 per cent in December, down from 31.4 per cent a year ago.

Nominal earnings declined by 2.6 per cent last year after rising by 5.4 per cent in 2008. After adjusting for inflation, the decline in real earnings was 3.2 per cent, deeper than the contraction of 1.2 per cent in 2008.

The unemployment rate stood at 2.1 per cent in December. — NNN-CNA

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