More and more Singaporeans must look forward to a jobless future, the government of the island state has warned.

A new report suggests that despite the country's nascent economic recovery, the unemployment rate could well jump from 4.1% to 5.5% in the second half of this year.

Worse still, the Ministry of Manpower warned that the rise could prove structural as older and less well-trained workers, unsuited to new economy businesses, would be next to lose their jobs.

The April to June quarter had produced the first fall in unemployment in a year - from 4.5% to 4.1% , but the ministry fears that will be the last fall for some time.

Trading up

Singapore's problem is that its status as a trading centre means it was hard hit by the slowdown in the world economy over the past year or so.

The island plays host to many export-oriented firms, particularly in the electronics sector, and is now trying to build expertise in new sectors such as biotechnology.

But that could leave existing workers unprepared to shift jobs in a "growing mismatch between the jobseekers and the jobs created as the economy restructures", the ministry said in a statement.

Of the layoffs in the three months from April to June, 31% were 30-39 year olds, with another 30% being 40-49 year olds.

"With the spate of retrenchments affecting mid-career managers and executives in 2001 and early 2002, degree holders have suffered the greatest pace of increase in long-term unemployment," the report said.

The proportion of jobless people out of work for at least 25 weeks rose sharply in the period under review to about one-third the total.