Singapore’s unemployment rose to the highest in over three years in Q1 2009 as the economy suffers its worst ever recession, according to Government data.

The data shows that the unemployment rate rose to 3.2% on a seasonally adjusted basis, the highest since Q3 2005 and rising from 2.5% at the end of 2008, as the manufacturing sector shed jobs.

The manufacturing sector saw the largest contraction of employment in the first quarter of 2009 with a loss of nearly 20,000 jobs from the previous quarter. The sector laid off 9,000 workers, mainly in the electronics industry. The construction and services sectors, however, saw an increase of 8,500 and 10,300 jobs respectively.