singaporesingapores employment expanded at a slower pace in the second quarter than in the previous quarter reflecting the impact of global economic headwinds the ministry of manpower said thursday total employment excluding migrant domestic workers increased by 23700 in the apriljune period according to advance estimates released by the ministry that compared with the 33000 increase in the first quarter of 2023 employment growth in the second quarter stemmed solely from nonresidents and was mainly in the construction sector the ministry said labor market conditions could soften in the coming quarters the ministry said in a statement firms are also adopting a more cautious stance towards hiring and wage increases due to the global economic slowdown and high inflationary environment in the near term employment growth could ease further after rising over the past three quarters the number of retrenchments fell to 3200 in the second quarter around the nonrecessionary prepandemic range seen in 2019 the data showed that compared with 3820 retrenchments in the first quarter singapores overall unemployment rate was at 19 in june unchanged from may the data showed the june unemployment rates for residents and for citizens were at 27 and at 28 respectively both unchanged from the prior month