A TOTAL of 12,760 jobs were lost in the first quarter, government data showed on Monday, pushing Singapore's overall unemployment rate to a three-year high of 3.3 per cent.
The total employment fell by 6,200, the first quarterly contraction in nearly six years as the number of workers hired was lower than the number of workers who left their jobs. This was in line with the slowing economy, said the Ministry of Manpower in a statement on Monday.
Some 10,900 workers were retrenched, while another 1,860 had their contracts terminated prematurely, 36 per cent more than the 9,410 laid off in the last quarter of 2008.
