Singapore employers expanded payrolls for a second straight quarter as the island’s new casino resorts started hiring amid a strengthening economy.

 

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell to 2.1% in the three months ended December from 3.4% in the previous quarter, the Ministry of Manpower said today. The median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of seven economists was for an unchanged rate. The city-state added 38,700 new jobs last quarter, bringing the total number to 38,800 in 2009.