Singapore Economy in Recession
Sunday, 28th October 2001
The economic recession is a long and deep one that will last at least six to nine months, but may possibly stretch over 18 to 24 months, Prime Minister GOH Chok Tong warned last night at an election rally in Jurong. About 89,900 people were jobless, according to the Manpower Ministry (MOM) labour estimates for the fourth quarter of 2001. The total number of workers retrenched in 2001 was 25,600, more than double the 11,624 laid off in 2000. Six in 10 of the retrenched workers came from the goods-producing industries, while the rest were from the services-producing industries. Singapore's unemployment rate rose to 4.7 per cent last December, the highest in 15 years. MOM said that the overall unemployment rate exceeded the 4.4 per cent recorded in December 1998 during the Asian financial crisis.