Singapore (VNA)– Singapore’s unemployment rate continued to drop for the fourth consecutivemonth in February as the economy has recovered, according to the Ministry ofManpower.

The overall unemploymentrate fell to 3.0 percent in February, down from 3.2 percent in January.Resident unemployment, which refers to Singapore citizens and permanentresidents, declined to 4.1 percent, from 4.3 percent in the preceding month.

The unemployment ratepeaked in September last year and persisted through October, before fallingsteadily since November.

Under the Jobs GrowthIncentive (JGI), payouts were made to 27,000 employers, who collectively hired130,000 locals in the first three months of scheme implementation.

According to localanalysts, business sentiment is picking up, with the effective management ofthe pandemic allowing for more workers to return to their workplaces. The government’ssupport, such as the JGI, and policy tweaks that favour Singaporeans have alsocontributed to falling unemployment rates.

Singapore’s economy isexpected to contract only slightly in the first quarter as activity continuesto recover from a pandemic-induced shock, a Reuters poll showed, with thecentral bank expected to stay pat at its policy review next week.

Its gross domestic product(GDP) is expected to contract 0.2 percent in January-March from the same perioda year earlier.

The outlook formanufacturing and exports is positive this year amid resilient demand forsemiconductors and electronics products, while construction should rebound,Maybank Kim Eng economists said.

Services will likely seemore gradual recovery with more easing of social distancing measures, and asborders start to reopen in the second half of the year to vaccinated travelers,they added./.