More jobless residents are taking longer to find work, Manpower Ministry figures released yesterday show. The proportion of residents in the labour force without work for at least 25 weeks rose to 0.8 per cent in September, from 0.6 per cent in the same month last year.

This long-term unemployment rate is the highest for September since the 2009 global financial crisis. Job seekers outnumbered openings, with 91 openings for every 100 jobless people as of September.

Layoffs dipped in the third quarter against the previous quarter, but for the first nine months of the year reached 13,730 - a seven-year high.

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