Singapore's economy, already in a recession, created fewer jobs in the third quarter because of the impact from the global slowdown, the government said Monday.

In the three months to September, total employment grew by 55,700, which is lower than the 58,600 jobs created in the same period last year and 71,400 recorded in the previous quarter, the Ministry of Manpower said.

Singapore's unemployment rate remained at 2.2 per cent at the end of September, the ministry said.

"The labour market shows signs of softening as a result of the global downturn," it said.

During the third quarter, 2,346 workers were laid off compared with 1,798 in the previous quarter and 1,827 from a year ago, the ministry said.

Singapore in October became the first Asian economy to enter recession, following two successive quarters of economic contraction. The official growth forecast for 2008 has been drastically slashed to about 2.5 per cent.

Singapore's economy grew 7.7 per cent in 2007.

Next year, the government sees growth ranging between a contraction of 1.0 per cent and expansion of 2.0 per cent.