THE threat of a global slowdown has yet to slow the growth of new jobs here, with latest official figures showing another record-breaking set of numbers.

In the first three months of this year, the economy created 68,400 jobs, exceeding the 62,500 recorded in the previous quarter.

Again, the services industry led the way, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Manpower yesterday.

Layoffs, however, remain unchanged. Like in the last four quarters, about 2,000 workers were retrenched.

Three-quarters of them worked in manufacturing, mostly in electronics.

However, analysts cautioned against blaming the layoffs for the rise in the unemployment rate: 2 per cent in March against 1.7 per cent in December last year.

Among Singaporeans and permanent residents, the rate is 2.9 per cent, up from 2.4 per cent in December. This works out to 54,400 residents being out of work.

But Mr Nizam Idris, a director of research at UBS bank, said it could be due to more people seeking jobs.

More school leavers than usual and more housewives wanting to return to work in the new year could have raised the figure, he added.

So much so that even the record number of new jobs was not enough to meet demand, said Standard Chartered economist Alvin Liew.

Despite the rise, the jobless rate is still lower than the 2.8 per cent recorded a year ago, said the Manpower Ministry in a statement. The figure then for residents was even higher: 3.8 per cent.

Still, Associate Professor Shandre Thangavelu of the National University of Singapore's economics department was a 'little surprised' unemployment had risen so soon.

He felt the full impact of the United States' economic troubles had yet to reach Singapore shores.

So, the increase could be the result of employers looking for cheaper labour - foreign workers - to prepare for slowing future demand and inflationary costs putting a squeeze on profit margins.

'We have to monitor how much of this substitution is occurring,' he said, adding that companies may be forced to do it to stay competitive.

The analysts said the rest of the year does not look good. They expect Singapore to be hurt by the global economic turmoil.

Mr Liew sees unemployment rising to 2.5 per cent by year-end.

Mr Nizam, noting that Singapore's non-oil domestic exports barely grew in the first quarter, said: 'I'd be surprised if we don't see a slowing in the number of jobs created in the coming quarters.'

zakirh@sph.com.sg