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Singaporeans worked 42.9 hours a week in 2019, a 6% drop over the last decade

Despite facing economic headwinds this year, Singapore saw a higher resident employment rate this June as compared to the same month last year.

In particular, the employment rate of residents aged 25 to 64 was 80.8% this June, versus 80.3% in June 2018, while that of residents aged 65 and above was 27.6% (June 2018: 26.8%).

According to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM)'s Labour Force in Singapore Advance Release 2019more residents were able to find jobs in the following sectors:

  • Professional services
  • Financial & insurance services
  • Information & communications
  • Community, social & personal services
Interestingly, the report also showed that more employees were now on fixed-term contracts (2019: 7.6%, 2018: 7.2%), possibly linked to employers exercising more caution in their hiring.

Real median income grew at a slower pace of 2.2% in 2019

In 2019 as a whole, the real median income of full-time, employed residents grew at a slower pace than last year (2019: 2.2%, 2018: 4.4%).

Despite this, the average real median income growth between 2014 to 2019 was still higher than the preceding five years, the report stated (3.8% per annum versus 1.9% per annum).

Unemployment rates remained for PMETs, grew for non-PMETs

Citing reasons such as the US-China trade conflict, which thus affected the manufacturing and retail trade industries, the report found an increase in the unemployment rate of non-professionals, managers, executives & technicians (non-PMETs). While it was at 4% in 2018, it grew 0.7% in 2019 to 4.7%.

On the other hand, the unemployment rate of PMETs remained at 2.9%.

Apart from the above, a key finding revealed that the average usual hours worked by residents in Singapore continued to decline and, in the past decade, has been considered one of the largest declines compared to other OECD economies.

In specific - in 2009, the average hours worked recorded at 45.6 hours, while in 2019, it dropped down to 42.9 hours.

mrsd-infographic-Labour-Force-Advance-Release-2019


Lead image and infographic / MOM

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