SINGAPORE, Oct. 18 (UPI) -- Prospects in Singapore's job market are improving and the jobless rate looks set to fall, Manpower Minister Ng Eng Hen said Sunday.
Unemployment is likely to have dropped in the third quarter on the back of good growth in the first half of the year, he said, The Straits Times reported Monday.
This puts on track the forecast that unemployment, which now stands at 4.5 percent, will be 4 percent or slightly lower by yearend, he told reporters.
Singapore's economic growth in the first half of the year was 10 percent, but it slowed to 7.7 percent from July to September year on year, according to the latest official estimates. When compared with the second quarter, the economy shrank by 2.3 percent in the third quarter.
Despite the third-quarter slowdown, the job numbers are still quite optimistic, Ng said.
