More laid off workers

Companies in Singapore laid off 7,000 workers in the last three months of 2008, the government said on Friday.

More than half of the layoffs were in the key manufacturing sector. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to 2.6 percent in December, up from 2.2 percent in September and 1.7 percent in December 2007, it said.

The 7,000 workers laid off in the December quarter compared with 2,346 employees who lost their jobs in the preceding three months and 1,966 for the same period in 2007, the ministry said.

For the whole of 2008, there were 13,400 workers laid off, up from 7,675 the year before.