Singapore may lose 99,000 jobs

Posted by dot on February 25, 2009 at 11:46 am| Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

SINGAPROE may lose 99,000 jobs amid the nation’s worst economic slump, pushing the jobless rate to 5 per cent by mid-2010, said DBS Bank in a report on Wednesday.

DBS also said the economy may contract 4.8 per cent this year, down from its earlier forecast of 3.3 per cent.

‘Singapore is likely to experience its worst ever growth this year with a GDP contraction of 4.8 per cent. Labour markets are expected to deteriorate further, it said.

‘The unemployment rate will likely hit 5 per cent with cumulative job losses expected to reach 99,000 by 2010. Policy measures that have been put forth so far will help to cushion the blows but the worst of the labour market cycle is yet to come.’

The Singapore economy shrank by 3.7 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2008, compared to a year ago. Singapore’s non-oil domestic exports plunged by 17.7 per cent in the same quarter, down significantly from an average negatove 4.2 per cent for the first three quarters of last year.

Most recent NODX growth in January plummeted by 34.8 per cent – the sharpest single month decline ever and a clear reflection of the collapse in global demand

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