Figures released by the Ministry of Manpower yesterday showed that the country’s state of unemployment weren’t looking too good last year, with more folks getting laid off .
Compared to 2014’s figure of 12,930 laid off, a total of 15,580 workers were made redundant last year, according to MOM’s annual Redundancy and Re-entry into Employment report.
A worrying pattern was also seen — those aged 40 and above formed the majority of the people laid off (65 percent). Residents however were found to be less vulnerable to lay-offs as compared to to foreigners.
The majority of the increase in lay-offs came from the manufacturing and professional services sector, which was hit by the fall in global oil prices and slowing demand in marine and construction. Ongoing business restructuring and softer economic conditions were attributed as the main reasons for redundancies.
