Chart of the Day: Fewer workers face layoffs in Q1

Only 4,000 employees were made redundant.

This chart shows the decline in the number of workers that were made redundant in the first quarter of the year.

According to the Ministry of Manpower, 4,000 workers were made redundant in the first quarter of 2017, lower than the past quarter (5,440) and the same period a year ago (4,710).

The decline over the quarter came from manufacturing (from 1,990 to 890, a low not seen since the second quarter of 2015 (870)) and services (2,840 to 2,440), while construction reported more redundancies (580 to 660). Services (61%) formed the bulk of all layoffs, mainly in wholesale trade (13%), financial services (12%), and professional services (12%).