Non-residents made up almost nine in ten of the total employment contraction between January and September this year. This reflected the strong​ rebound in resident employment in 3Q 2020, which offset most of the declines we saw in the first two quarters of the year. On the other hand, the contraction in non-resident employment continued in 3Q 2020, at a faster pace than the previous two quarters.

With the rebound, the resident employment level in September 2020 is now back to near pre COVID-19 levels. This reflected strong support measures for local employment, including the Jobs Support Scheme and programmes under the SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package.

Other indicators also point to a gradual pick up in the labour market activity:

• Significantly fewer employees were placed on short work-week or temporary layoff in 3Q 2020.
• Average weekly paid hours worked rose due to higher overtime hours.
• The number of job vacancies rose for the first time in 2020, resulting in an improvement in the ratio of job vacancies to unemployed persons.​