SINGAPORE (April 28): Singapore’s unemployment rate was unchanged at 1.9 percent in the first quarter, the Ministry of Manpower said.

The economy added 11,400 jobs in the quarter, compared with 16,100 in the previous three months, the ministry said in a preliminary report Thursday. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of 13 economists was for the jobless rate to rise to 2 percent.

The data follows a warning Wednesday by the central bank that wage growth is slowing as corporate margins come under strain, and jobless residents are having a harder time finding employment. Singapore had the slowest jobs growth last year since 2003, with reduced work in the manufacturing and services industries.