The 17.5 per cent increase was concentrated in some outward-oriented sectors \u2013 such as information and communications and manufacturing \u2013 driven primarily by business restructuring, according to MOM.<\/p>\n
Foo See Yang, managing director and strategic business group head at human resource solutions firm Persol Asia-Pacific, said outward-oriented sectors often rely on external demand, including exports, international trade, foreign investment and global supply chains.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis makes them more vulnerable to geopolitical tensions, trade policy shifts and fluctuations in the global economy. Ongoing uncertainty has prompted many businesses in these sectors to reassess their operating models, resulting in restructuring and workforce rationalisation,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The Republic\u2019s total employment \u2013 the number of Singapore residents and foreign workers with jobs \u2013 grew by 10,700 in the second quarter of 2026, up from 9,400 in the preceding quarter. This is broadly similar to the 10,400 in the second quarter of 2025.<\/p>\n
The number of Singaporeans and permanent residents with jobs grew at a slower pace than in the previous quarter, with growth concentrated in essential and public services.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, overall employment growth in the second quarter of 2026 was largely driven by foreign employment in construction and manufacturing.<\/p>\n
Foo highlighted that public transport and infrastructure projects will continue to generate jobs as the Government expands connectivity and upgrades critical infrastructure to support Singapore\u2019s growing population.<\/p>\n
He added that the HR firm also sees job opportunities across construction, engineering, operations and maintenance. \u201cAs they are driven by national planning priorities, hiring in these areas will remain relatively resilient even when private-sector employment moderates.\u201d<\/p>\n
Similarly, a spokesperson for Jobstreet by\u00a0SEEK said the strongest growth in the platform\u2019s job postings was seen in the government and defence sectors, which reflected a 49 per cent jump from the first quarter to the second quarter of 2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile artificial intelligence can automate tasks, areas such as policymaking and stakeholder engagement in public sectors continue to rely on human judgment,\u201d added the spokesperson.<\/p>\n
Unemployment rates in June 2026 remained broadly stable at 2 per cent, similar to those in the previous quarter.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/fa816e043d9fa157f180994836b42a1e87856d45c41460da24e0185dd1732e7f.webp\")
<\/p>\n
Looking ahead, the proportion of firms expecting to hire in the next three months rose to 43.9 per cent in June 2026, up from 40.6 per cent in May 2026. Over the same period, the share of firms expecting to raise salaries also increased to 29.3 per cent, up from 23.7 per cent.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the proportion of firms expecting to retrench employees declined to 2.7 per cent, down from 3.2 per cent.<\/p>\n
DBS senior economist Chua Han Teng\u00a0said the ministry\u2019s forward-looking indicators suggest that \u201cfuture layoffs should remain contained\u201d even as businesses restructure in response to the rapidly evolving economic landscape.<\/p>\n
In a separate report released by the Economic Development Board on July 31, the majority of firms \u2013 74 per cent \u2013 polled in the manufacturing sector expect the employment level in the next three months of 2026 to remain broadly similar to that of the second quarter.<\/p>\n
All clusters \u2013 including electronics, chemicals and precision engineering, except transport engineering \u2013 project a larger workforce, according to the report.<\/p>\n
\u201cOverall, the improvement in hiring, wage and retrenchment expectations points to labour demand that remains resilient,\u201d said MOM.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough the uptick in hiring and wage sentiment was broad-based across sectors, these indicators remained below their pre-crisis levels in February,\u201d it added, referring to the energy shock triggered by the Iran war which broke out in late February.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis suggests that firms will likely continue to adopt some caution with their hiring and wage decisions in the near term.\u201d<\/p>\n
Foo pointed out that businesses have become \u201cmore accustomed\u201d to operating amid global challenges including tariffs and geopolitical tensions, and are increasingly factoring these risks into their long-term business resilience planning.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs business confidence stabilises, employers are proactively securing and retaining the talent needed to support business growth and transformation,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SINGAPORE \u2013 Layoffs rose in the second quarter of 2026, even as the Singapore labour market continued to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":569306,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[114,184,85,46],"class_list":["post-569305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=569305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569305\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/569306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=569305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=569305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=569305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}