SINGAPORE, March 14 (Xinhua) -- Singapore's employment jumped by a record 234,900, or 9.4 percent, in 2007, surpassing the gains of176,000, or 7.6 percent, in 2006, said the Ministry of Manpower in a statement on Friday.

    The ministry attributed the increase to last year's robust economic growth, which stood at 7.7 percent.

    Local employment grew by 90,400 last year while foreigner's employment rose by a new high of 144,500, up from the gains of 85,100 in 2006.

    As at the end of last December, foreigners accounted for 33 percent of the 2.73 million people employed in Singapore.

    The number of workers retrenched last year fell by 39 percent to a 14-year low of 7,675 from 12,603 in 2006, and two thirds of residents retrenched in private sector secured re-employment within six months after being retrenched last year.

    For the whole year of 2007, productivity reduced by 0.9 percent after experiencing slowing growth in the preceding two years.