Unemployment in Singapore Rising Slightly in 2012
Monday we noted that continued global economic sluggishness may be catching up with law firms in the APAC region, and although we’re still waiting for the very latest numbers out of Singapore, the city’s last report showed a rise in unemployment, a rarity in the last few years:
“Unemployment in Singapore rose slightly in the first quarter of this year, amid an increase in the number of layoffs in the earlier quarter which eased off into this year.
Employment creation remained fairly strong, although it moderated slightly in the first quarter of 2012.
According to an “Employment Situation, First Quarter 2012″ report released on Monday by the Ministry of Manpower, total employment is estimated to have grown by 27,400 in the first three months of this year.
This was lower than the 37,600 in the fourth quarter and the 28,300 in the first quarter of 2011.
…
“About 2,700 workers were made redundant in the first three months of this year, which is lower than the 3,250 workers affected in the last quarter of 2011, but close to the 2,750 laid off in the first quarter of 2011.
The seasonally adjusted overall unemployment rate increased slightly from 2 per cent in December 2011 to 2.1 per cent in March 2012.”
Of course those are numbers that most cities in the U.S. or UK would kill for, and there have not been many redundancies in the legal market here (there is even some sentiment that sacked lawyers are gaining the upper hand), but there is no doubt that there is a small slow down in Asia, thanks to Europe worries, so firms may try to find anyplace they can to trim the fat.
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