REDUNDANCIES nearly tripled from 3,180 in the third quarter of last year to a record quarterly high of 9,410 workers in the fourth quarter as the global economic downturn worsened.

For the whole of 2008, a total of 16,880 workers were made redundant, comprising 13,920 workers retrenched and 2,970 workers whose contracts were terminated prematurely, according to the latest labour market report released by the Ministry of Manpower on Monday.

More workers across all three broad occupational groups were laid off in the fourth quarter of 2008, with professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) experiencing the largest increase - from 950 in the third quarter to 3,790 in the fourth quarter. For the whole year, 6,200 PMETs lost their jobs, forming 37 per cent of the workers displaced, up from 31 per cent the previous year.

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