Employment rate of Singapore residents grow

SINGAPORE - Singapore's labour force participation rate grew this year to 66.6 per cent, up from 66.1 per cent in 2011, according to the Manpower Ministry's Singapore Workforce 2012 report released this morning.

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Full statement from Ministry of Manpower:

Employment rate reached a new high, as labour force particpation rose

Singapore Workforce, 2012

The resident employment rate reached a new high, reflecting the strong employment creation and the rise in labour force participation among women and older residents. However, income growth has moderated, amid the weaker economic conditions.

These are the key findings from the "Singapore Workforce, 2012" report by the Ministry of Manpower's Research and Statistics Department, based on the 2012 Comprehensive Labour Force Survey conducted in the middle of this year.

Main findings

Singapore's resident labour force grew faster in 2012, reflecting the increase in the resident labour force participation rate to a new high of 66.6 per cent in 2012 from 66.1 per cent in 2011.

The resident labour force rose by 1.9 per cent over the year to 2.12 million in June 2012, up from the growth of 1.6 per cent in 2011. Nevertheless, this is substantially below the average increase of 2.6 per cent p.a. from 2002 to 2012, reflecting the slower growth in resident population in recent years.

With the rise in labour force participation rate and continued strong employment creation, the employment rate rose to another new high.

78.8 per cent of the resident population aged 25 to 64 were employed in 2012, up from 78.0 per cent in 2011.

The employment rate for older residents increased at a faster pace, amid the tight labour market and measures to improve the employability of older residents, including the implementation of the re-employment legislation and the enhanced Special Employment Credit earlier this year. 64.0 per cent of residents aged 55 to 64 were employed in 2012, higher than 61.2 per cent in 2011.

Both the employment rate for older males (from 76.4 per cent to 79.7 per cent) and females (from 46.3 per cent to 48.1 per cent) rose to new highs.

Both professionals, managers, executives & technicians (PMETs) and non-PMETs experienced employment gains over the year.

Driven by the strong increase in clerical, sales & service workers (7.0 per cent) which outweighed the decrease in production & related workers (-1.8 per cent), resident non-PMET employment increased by 2.7 per cent in 2012, faster than the growth of 1.5 per cent for PMETs.

Consequently, the PMET share of resident employment dipped from 52.2 per cent in 2011 to 51.9 per cent in 2012.

This was still higher than the 44.6 per cent in 2002 as PMETs experienced faster employment growth (4.5 per cent p.a.) than non-PMETs (1.4 per cent p.a.) over the decade.

Similar trends were observed for professionals, managers & executives (PMEs), whose share of resident employment rose from 26.6 per cent in 2002 to 31.5 per cent in 2011 before dipping to 31.2 per cent in 2012.

Income growth moderated in 2012, amid the weaker economic conditions. The median monthly income from work (including employer CPF contributions) of full-time employed residents rose by 7.1 per cent over the year to $3,480 in 2012, down from the growth of 8.3 per cent in 2011.

Accounting for inflation using the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for all items, real median income growth moderated to 2.2 per cent in 2012 from 2.9 per cent in 2011.

Adjusting for CPI excluding imputed rentals on owner-occupied accommodation (which do not involve actual expenditures), the growth in real median income (including employer CPF contributions) was 3.3 per cent in 2012, compared with 3.9 per cent in 2011.

In the first nine months of 2012, the Consumer Price Index for all items rose over the year by 4.8 per cent, down from the increase of 5.2 per cent in the whole of 2011.

For more information

The "Singapore Workforce, 2012" report is available on the Ministry of Manpower's website at https://www.mom.gov.sg/mrsd/publication.

A full report of the survey findings will be published in the "Labour Force in Singapore, 2012" on January 31, 2013.