Singapore jobless to exceed 30,000

Singapore jobless to exceed 30,000

SINGAPORE (AP): More than 30,000 Singaporeans will be out of
work by the end of the year, exceeding the government's
projections, the head of the city-state's largest union was
quoted on Friday as saying.

"In the fourth quarter, retrenchment has gone up compared to
the previous three months," Cyrille Tan, head of the United
Workers of Electronic and Electrical Industries, was quoted as
telling The Business Times.

The Ministry of Manpower had projected the year's total
layoffs would not exceed 30,000 in the country of 3.1 million
people. The unemployment rate for September was 4.5 percent,
almost double June's 2.3 percent, according to government
figures.

Singapore is in the midst of one of the worst economic
downturns in its 33-year history. During the last recession in
1985 the number of jobless totaled 19,529.