SINGAPORE - Total employment for the third quarter of 2009 grew by 14,000, offsetting the losses of 6,200 and 7,700 in the first and second quarters of the year respectively.

This increase resulted in the total employment in September 2009 recovering to around Dec 2008 level.

Services and manufacturing continued to expand at a higher rate - 12,700 and 7,400 respectively - than previous quarters. Manufacturing continued its fourth consecutive quarter of decline, albeit at a lower rate (-6,400) than the 1st two quarters of the year.

Meanwhile, the unemployment figure rose slightly to a seasonally adjusted 3.4 per cent in the third quarter of 2009, from 3.3 per cent in June 2009, but below the peak of 4.8 per cent in September 2003 due to the SARS outbreak.

However, among the resident labour force, the rate increased to 5 per cent in June 2009. Long term unemployment has also risen, with the number of job seekers looking for a job for over 25 weeks almost doubling from 9,600 in September 08 to 18,400 in September 09.

Re-employment rose as well, with over half of residents retrenched in the second quarter of the year re-employed by September 2009.

Job vacancies also rose 34,900 in September 09, up 42 per cent from June 09.