3Q Employment Estimates

Employment
Employment grew by 57.6k in 3Q, lower than 2Q 64.4k. The total employment gains for 1st 9mths reaches 171.5k (2006: 176k).

(In thousands)	Employment Change					Employment Level as at Sep 2007 p
	3Q 06	4Q 06	1Q 07	2Q 07	3Q 07p
Total*	43.0	51.5	49.4	64.4	57.6	2,667.4
Manufacturing	11.3	10.9	10.1	15.9	11.8	555.3
Construction	5.6	5.8	5.4	10.9	10.8	282.7
Services	25.9	34.4	33.7	36.8	34.5	1,811.6

^{Source: MOM}

^P: Preliminary estimates

*: Data for the three major sectors do not add up to the total as the latter includes agriculture, fishing, quarrying, utilities and sewerage & waste management

Unemployment
Unemployment rate dropped to 1.7% in Sept from 2.3% in Jun, and is the lowest in a decade.

	Sep 06	Dec 06	Mar 07	Jun 07	Sep 07p
Seasonally Adjusted
Overall (%)	2.7	2.6	2.9	2.3	1.7
Resident (%)	3.6	3.6	4.0	3.1	2.3
Non-Seasonally Adjusted
Overall (%)	2.4	2.6	2.5	2.9	1.5
Resident (%)	3.2	3.6	3.4	4.0	2.1

^{Source: MOM}

^P: Preliminary estimates

Retrenchment
1,700 workers were axed in 3Q, lower than 2Q 1,918. Majority were from manufacturing, and some from service industries.

* MOM-3Q Estimates , PM Speech-NTUC *