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TL;DR
Singapore recorded 4,800 retrenchments in the third quarter of 2026, the highest quarterly count since the end of 2020, according to preliminary Ministry of Manpower data. The figures point to restructuring, not confirmed AI-driven mass layoffs; meanwhile, graduates in Singapore and other Southeast Asian countries face weaker employment outcomes and slower hiring.
Singapore recorded 4,800 retrenchments in the third quarter of 2026, the highest quarterly total since late 2020, as graduates across Southeast Asia report difficulty finding work. The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) says business reorganisation remained the main driver; the data does not establish that artificial intelligence caused the rise in layoffs.
MOM’s preliminary Labour Market Advance Release, published October 30, put retrenchments at 4,800, up from 4,620 in the second quarter and 3,670 in the third quarter of 2025. The last higher quarterly count was 5,640 in the fourth quarter of 2020. The retrenchment rate remained at 2.0 per 1,000 employees.
Layoffs were concentrated in services, with about 4,000 cases, compared with 700 in manufacturing and 100 in construction. MOM said retrenchments remained elevated in selected outward-oriented industries, including information and communications, financial services and manufacturing. It identified business reorganisation as the main reason, rather than naming AI as a cause.
Other indicators show a labour market with both expansion and pressure. Total employment grew by 27,700 in the quarter, more than twice the increase in the previous quarter, and Singapore’s overall unemployment rate was 2.0% in September. At the same time, the proportion of firms expecting to retrench edged up from 2.8% in August to 3.1% in September. MOM said the combination of higher layoffs and layoff intentions points to weaknesses that warrant close monitoring.
Infographic 01 · The numbers
Singapore's layoffs climb to a near six-year high
Retrenchments have risen in each of the last five quarters while employment kept growing. The official reason is restructuring.
Retrenchments per quarter
Number of employees laid off · selected quarters · rounded to the nearest 10
3Q 2026 by sector
Main driver: business reorganisation · elevated in information and communications, financial services, manufacturing
Mixed signals for the next quarter
Share of firms, August → September 2026
- Expect to hire in the next 3 months30.5% → 42.3%
- Expect to raise wages16.9% → 19.9%
- Expect to retrench2.8% → 3.1%MOM: “emerging weaknesses … that warrant close monitoring”
The economy grew 5.9% year on year in 2Q 2026 (MTI). Rising layoffs in a growing economy point to restructuring rather than a collapse in demand. The 3Q figures are preliminary; the full report follows in mid-December 2026.
Sources: MOM Labour Market Advance Release 3Q 2026, 30 Oct 2026; MOM Labour Market Report 2Q 2026, 21 Sep 2026; MOM Labour Market Report 1Q 2021 (4Q 2020 figure).
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Graduate Hiring Faces a Slower Start
The reported figures distinguish two pressures that can be blurred in discussion of AI and work: employees losing existing jobs and new entrants struggling to secure their first one. Singapore’s layoffs are rising, but available second-quarter data indicate that younger workers were not the group with the highest retrenchment rate. Graduates’ challenge is more often a slower path into work, fewer permanent positions and competition for entry-level openings.
That distinction matters for workers and policymakers. A company reorganising roles may remove some positions while continuing to hire in other areas; a graduate unable to find a first job faces a different problem from an experienced employee who has been retrenched. If entry-level hiring contracts, young workers may have fewer opportunities to gain experience and build careers, even while total employment increases.
The trend also matters beyond Singapore. The International Labour Organization estimates that about 80 million workers in Southeast Asia are in jobs with some exposure to generative AI. Exposure describes potential contact with the technology, not a forecast that those jobs will disappear. The ILO says there is no evidence so far of large-scale job losses from generative AI in the region, while warning that youth employment in highly exposed jobs has fallen faster than overall employment in the Philippines and Thailand.
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What the Labour Data Shows
The headline layoff figure is not, by itself, evidence of an AI-driven wave of job cuts. Singapore’s quarterly retrenchment statistics do not include a separate category for AI-related layoffs. In an April survey cited in the source material, 6.2% of AI-adopting firms said they had reduced headcount after adopting AI. That finding is limited to the firms surveyed and does not identify the cause of the wider rise in retrenchments.
The most detailed available breakdown of who was laid off comes from MOM’s second-quarter report. Of 4,620 retrenched workers that quarter, 3,950 were professionals, managers, executives or technicians, or about 85%. The source material says workers under 30 had the lowest layoff rate of any age group. Those figures suggest the current retrenchment pattern is concentrated among experienced professionals, not young graduates, although the third-quarter release does not yet provide the same detailed breakdown.
Graduate outcomes have nevertheless weakened. Across Singapore’s six public universities, 83.4% of job-seeking graduates from the 2025 cohort had found work within six months, down from 87.1% for the previous comparison reported in the source. Full-time permanent employment fell to 74.4% from 79.4%; the reported rate for arts, design and media graduates was 50%. In Malaysia, 24-year-old marketing graduate Nafeesa Azman told the South China Morning Post she had sent 200 to 300 applications in about two months, while the offers she received were below the 3,000 ringgit monthly income she needed. Her account illustrates individual job-search pressure, not a regional employment statistic.
“Quite quickly”
— Singapore Minister of State Foo Cexiang
AI’s Role Remains Unproven
The causes of individual layoffs are not fully itemised in the preliminary third-quarter release, and it does not provide a specific count of workers displaced by AI. MOM’s identification of business reorganisation is the official explanation for the overall pattern; it does not establish how much, if any, of that reorganisation involved AI adoption.
The current worker-profile data also has a timing gap. The second-quarter breakdown shows who was retrenched and by what reasons, but comparable third-quarter details are due in the full report expected in mid-December. Until then, it is not clear whether the age and occupation profile of layoffs changed in the latest quarter. Nor do the reported graduate employment figures show how much of the decline is attributable to AI rather than broader hiring conditions, field of study or other economic factors.
The regional evidence is similarly limited: job exposure to generative AI is not the same as job loss, and the available findings do not establish that AI caused the faster decline in youth employment in highly exposed jobs in the Philippines and Thailand. The extent and timing of future effects remain uncertain.
Full Q3 Breakdown Due in December
MOM is expected to publish the full third-quarter labour-market report in mid-December, with sector detail and information on workers’ re-entry into employment. That release should provide a clearer account of where retrenchments occurred and what happened to affected workers, though it may not identify AI as a cause unless the ministry reports that information separately.
In the meantime, Singapore will be watching both sides of the labour market: whether employers continue to add jobs and whether retrenchments and firms’ stated plans to cut staff keep rising. The graduate figures also leave a practical question for universities, employers and government programmes: whether entry-level hiring and permanent job placements recover for upcoming cohorts.
Statements from Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and Minister of State Foo Cexiang signal that the government sees a need to respond to possible disruption to early-career opportunities. The source material does not set out a specific new measure or timetable. The next clear indicators will be the December data and subsequent graduate employment outcomes.
Key Questions
How many layoffs did Singapore report in the third quarter of 2026?
MOM’s preliminary figure was 4,800 retrenchments, up from 4,620 in the second quarter. It was the highest quarterly total since 5,640 in the fourth quarter of 2020.
Has Singapore confirmed that AI caused the rise in layoffs?
No. MOM identified business reorganisation as the main driver and its published layoff statistics do not include a separate AI category. The available figures do not establish how much AI contributed, if any.
Are young workers the main group being laid off?
The available second-quarter breakdown does not point to that. About 85% of retrenched workers in Q2 were professionals, managers, executives or technicians, and the source material says workers under 30 had the lowest layoff rate of any age group. Comparable Q3 age details have not yet been released.
Are Singapore graduates finding jobs?
Most job-seeking graduates in the reported 2025 cohort found work within six months, but the rate fell to 83.4% from 87.1%. Full-time permanent employment also declined, to 74.4% from 79.4%, according to the source material.
When will more detailed Q3 layoff data be available?
MOM’s full third-quarter labour-market report is expected in mid-December 2026. The advance release published October 30 contains preliminary figures.
Source: ThorstenMeyerAI.com
