Among Singaporeans and permanent residents, the jobless rate rose to 5.1% in January-March from 5.0% in October-December, the Ministry of Manpower said Friday, April 30.

The data didn't surprise economists, however, as unemployment tends to lag economic recovery and restructuring is still ongoing in the public sector as well as certain areas like aviation.

The still-high jobless rate is also partly statistical as people who previously stayed at home or were content to work part-time started looking for work.

Singapore, like many countries, defines unemployment as the percentage of people actively looking for work to the total number of economically active people.

Singapore's economy grew by 7.3% in the first three months of this year, according to the government's flash, or preliminary, estimate.

"The services are still going through purges of inefficiencies. On the employment side, it's still in a difficult phase," said Oversea- Chinese Banking Corp. economist Suan Teck Kin.

He pointed to the impending restructuring at the Singapore Airlines Group and recent retrenchments by government agencies like the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore and Singapore Sports Council.

He predicted the unemployment figure will likely start showing improvement only in the second half of this year.

Job creation will need to hit 20,000-25,000 a quarter before "unemployment can drop down more meaningfully," added GK Goh regional economist Song Seng Wun.

The number of persons employed rose by 14,300 in the January-March quarter, compared with a gain of 16,200 in the last three months of last year. The goods-producing sector added 2400 jobs, while services employed an additional 11,900 people.

In the third quarter of last year, the economy created 900 new jobs.

An estimated 2800 people were retrenched in January-March, the ministry said, up from 2784 in the previous quarter.

The ministry didn't give a forecast for unemployment, but the Monetary Authority of Singapore said earlier this month that the rate is likely to ease to around 4% by year-end with job creation in all sectors except construction.

Although unemployment in Singapore is low by developed-country standards, it's well above the 2% levels seen in the years preceding the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis.

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