The Ministry of Manpower's (MOM) weekly jobs situation reports should also contain information on the state of unemployment in Singapore (Weekly reports will be helpful, but include more details to aid job seekers, Aug 12).

This is on top of the information on the number of jobs, traineeships and attachments available, and how many of them have been filled.

The MOM's Labour Market Advance Release Second Quarter 2020, which was released on July 29, stated that unemployment rates rose from 2.4 per cent in March to 2.9 per cent in June. It added that "there were 90,500 unemployed residents in June 2020, of whom 79,600 were citizens".

It is highly likely that these figures do not include those employees made redundant or retrenched by micro-SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) as it is understood that MOM exempts employers that have fewer than 10 employees from submitting mandatory retrenchment notifications.

What is the basis for such an exemption? The employees of such organisations are also entitled to the same privileges or support as those in larger organisations.

SMEs, in particular, the micro-SMEs, are profoundly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. The crisis has already transformed into an economic and labour market shock, affecting all businesses regardless of their size.

In the coming months, many employees from micro-SMEs are expected to be made redundant due to the bleak economic outlook.

In the light of the disruptive impact of the pandemic on jobs and livelihoods, the number of employees who are retrenched from these micro-SMEs should be captured, recorded and published by MOM for a more accurate picture of the state of unemployment in Singapore.

Sattar Bawany (Professor)