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According to MOM data, Singapore remains as one of the top three countries to have a high labour participation rate among other major cities with an aging population.
New data on Singapore’s labour market, released by the Manpower Research and Statistics Department of the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), reflects that the country has performed well overall this year with an expanding workforce, low labour underutilisation and a rising nominal and real income. The annual Labour Force in Singapore Advance Release 2024 report also stated that income inequality gap has also been narrowing and employment rate for persons with disabilities rising. This indicates that the labour market has become a more inclusive space.
However, due to the rising proportion of seniors, labour force participation continues to decline for the third year in a row. This has in turn reduced the country’s old-age support ratio by half from 6.0 in 2014 to 3.5 in 2024 and is projected to further reduce to 2.7 in 2030. To adapt to the aging workforce, efforts have been ongoing to enhance the employment and employability of senior workers and will continue to place high importance on this aspect of support. Despite all that, Singapore still remains as the top three country to have a high labour force participation rate among other major cities with an aging population.
Other key findings conducted by MOM include:
1. Job mobility
The proportion of employed residents in the past year decreased by 7.6% and it is likely due to more workers staying in their current jobs as hiring gradually slowed down after the post-pandemic recovery.
It has been noted that a higher percentage of younger workers between ages 15 and 24 years old changed jobs more frequently. This could be attributed to their desire to explore different opportunities or find a better job fit in the early stages of their career. Job change rates remained stable or have seen a decrease for older age groups, indicating that they have been staying in their current positions.
For those full-time resident employees who belong to the older age group (25 to 64) and have decided to switch jobs, saw an increase in their income (59.3%).
2. Hours worked
The average weekly hours worked continued to see a decline from 41.9 hours in 2023 to 41.6 hours in 2024. This can be attributed to the long-term trend of the reduction of work hours for full-timers.
3. Income
Real incomes rebounded from 2023 as inflations eased and nominal income growth strengthened. The nominal median (P50) gross monthly income of full-timers grew from $5,197 to $5,500 within a year, representing a 5.8% growth. This is higher than the 2.5% growth that was seen in the previous year.
Income growth at the 20th percentile (P20) grew faster than the median as initiatives that aim to uplift lower-wage workers took effect. The ratio of P20 to P50 improved from 0.54 to 0.55 and P20 is expected to continue increasing in the coming years as a raise in nominal wage requirements under the Progressive Wage Model are gradually being implemented.
4. Unemployment
The unemployment rate remained low overall among professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) and non-PMETs with a rate of 2.7% and 3.4% respectively. Looking at long-term unemployment, the rate falls lower at 0.7% and 0.5% respectively.
Across all industries, unemployment rates either declined or remained similar over the year except for outward-oriented industries like the Information & Communications and Financial & Insurance services which saw an increase in their unemployment rates. This could be due to the rise in retrenchments from business restructuring as the global economy shifts, impacting firms in those sectors.
5. Persons outside the labour force
As Singapore's population ages, more residents can be seen outside the labour force with an increase from 1.12mn to 1.14mn in the past year. This increase is primarily due to the increasing number of retirees. Those have cited retirement as the main reason for leaving the work force increased from 25.2% to 28.7% and it is expected to increase as baby boomers retire. Other reasons for residents to stay out of the labour force can be said to be discouraged workers. Fortunately, the numbers have declined from 9,100 to 7,400.
For more details and other findings, visit here.
READ MORE: A snapshot of Singapore's labour market performance in Q3 2024
Lead image/ MOM's Labour Force In Singapore Advance Release 2024
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