Disclaimer: Unless otherwise stated, any opinions expressed below belong solely to the author. Data sourced from the latest labour market report released by the Ministry of Manpower, supplemented with figures from earlier releases where necessary.
Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has just released its latest Labour Market Report for Q1 of 2025, and it’s a bit of a mixed bag of indicators—although, as ever for Singapore, they’re all really rather good compared to other countries.
That said, on the one hand, the overall employment increased by 2,400 people in the last quarter, and there are over 134,000 vacancies in the entire economy. On the other, both the resident and citizen unemployment figures nudged up a bit to 2.9% and 3.1% respectively, showing that a larger proportion of locals are looking for a job.
In total, there are 81,800 unemployed people in Singapore, including 62,600 citizens. That said, we have to remember that it doesn’t mean that all of these people are struggling to find a job, but rather that so many are merely looking for one.
After all, there’s something called natural unemployment, which is considered by economists to be somewhere around 2%, and it reflects the number of workers in transition from one job to another.
Long-term unemployment rate among residents is just 0.9%, although it too increased in Q1 of 2025:
Thousands of vacancies, but here are the ones that pay
The total estimated number of vacancies in Singapore’s economy is around 134,000, or 1.64 jobs for every unemployed person.
However, MOM doesn’t collect specific data on all of them, just the ones reported by private companies employing at least 25 people, and the public sector. The number of openings among them hit 82,200 in Q1, increasing by 6,400 from the last quarter of 2024.
In other words, there are still plenty of jobs in larger companies. What’s more is that more than half of them—45,300 to be exact—are in the PMET (Professionals, Managers, Executives & Technicians) category.
Crucially, those figures refer to the number of unfilled posts at the end of the quarter for which a company is actively recruiting employees from the outside. They exclude any internal hiring or positions filled but not yet active.
As we know from MOM’s annual release, the median salary (inclusive of employer CPF) in the Singapore economy reached S$5,500 last year. However, the figures are vastly different between the PMET and non-PMET categories.
While workers in clerical jobs, manufacturing or maintenance earn a median of just S$3,000, those in PMET positions bring in over S$7,300 each month, with men making S$7,800, or $1,000 more than ladies.
Median salaries (including employer CPF) in 2024:
| Total | Male | Female | |
| Average for all | S$5,500 | S$5,850 | S$5,265 |
| PMETs | S$7,308 | S$7,800 | S$6,825 |
| Non-PMETs | S$3,000 | S$3,000 | S$3,015 |
Where are they?
While MOM doesn’t list all openings, of course—there are job boards and recruitment agencies for that—but it does provide a breakdown by industry.
Please note, these are Q1 figures for PMET positions only, as reported by the Ministry of Manpower on Friday, June 27:
| Professions / Industries | PMET Vacancies as of Q1 of 2025 |
| TOTAL | 45,300 |
| MANUFACTURING | 4,300 |
| Electronic, Computer & Optical Products | 1,300 |
| Fabricated Metal Products, Machinery & Equipment | 900 |
| Petroleum, Chemical & Pharmaceutical Products | 600 |
| Transport Equipment | 500 |
| Food, Beverages & Tobacco | 400 |
| Other Manufacturing Industries | 400 |
| Paper/Rubber/Plastic Products & Printing | 100 |
| CONSTRUCTION | 3,400 |
| SERVICES | 37,000 |
| Community, Social and Personal Services | 13,900 |
| Public Administration & Education | 8,700 |
| Health & Social Services | 4,000 |
| Other Community, Social & Personal Services | 700 |
| Arts, Entertainment & Recreation | 400 |
| Information and Communications | 5,800 |
| IT & Other Information Services | 5,100 |
| Telecommunications, Broadcasting & Publishing | 700 |
| Financial and Insurance Services | 5,800 |
| Financial Services | 5,300 |
| Insurance Services | 500 |
| Professional Services | 4,700 |
| Legal, Accounting & Management Services | 2,700 |
| Architectural & Engineering Services | 1,000 |
| Other Professional Services | 900 |
| Wholesale and Retail Trade | 2,800 |
| Wholesale Trade | 2,200 |
| Retail Trade | 700 |
| Accommodation and Food Services | 1,400 |
| Food & Beverage Services | 1,000 |
| Accommodation | 400 |
| Transportation and Storage | 1,300 |
| Water Transport & Supporting Services | 500 |
| Air Transport & Supporting Services | 400 |
| Other Transport & Storage Services | 300 |
| Land Transport & Supporting Services | 200 |
| Administrative and Support Services | 800 |
| Other Administrative & Support Services | 700 |
| Cleaning & Landscaping | 100 |
| Real Estate Services | 600 |
| Other | 500 |
The government remains one of the most hungry employers, with 8,700 openings, with a further 4,000 in the healthcare sector. IT and finance are high on the list as well, with close to 6,000 vacancies each, followed by professional and legal services, as well as other categories.
Depending on your education, background and experience, you can now gauge your chances and potential competition in your industry, before diving into specific offers available on recruitment websites or in the press. Happy hunting!
- Read other job-related articles we’ve written here.
Featured Image Credit: Jason Goh / Pixabay
