6 highlights of Singapore's labour force in 2018

Singapore's labour market outcomes in June this year saw an improvement from the same month last year, as revealed in the Ministry of Manpower's Labour Force in Singapore Advance Release 2018 report released on 29 November 2018.

The report highlighted a growth in employment, with the rate remaining high at around 80% for residents aged 25 to 64 and continuing to rise for residents aged 65 and above. Further, efforts to raise the incomes of low-wage workers helped real income growth at the 20th percentile grow faster than at the median in the recent five years (June 2013 to June 2018), narrowing their gap with the median worker.

The following findings for HR leaders and managers to take note of were also revealed:

#1 Employment rate continued to rise

• The employment rate for youths aged 15 to 24 also increased from 34.1% to 34.5%, due to more taking on internships or vacation jobs.
• The employment rate for residents aged 25 to 64 fell slightly from 80.7% in 2017 to 80.3% in 2018. This mainly reflected a decline in the employment rate among women in their 30s, from 82.1% to 80.7%, as more stayed outside the labour force during the year to care for their families.
• Despite yearly fluctuations, the employment rate for those aged 25 to 64 has held mostly steady in recent years. Singapore continues to rank favourably compared with OECD economies, at eighth place, especially in terms of full-time employment rate, where the nation came in fourth.

#2 Resident labour force participation rate (LFPR) remained unchanged

• The LFPR remained at 67.7% from 2017, and has broadly stabilised over the last four years.

Lead image / 123RF

Infographics / MOM