Labour Market Round-up 2015

The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) expects modest labour demand in sectors like construction and manufacturing this year, according to its latest Statement on Labour Market Developments released on 15 March 2016.

It also said it expects redundancies to continue to rise in sectors facing weak external demand and that are undergoing restructuring.

MOM will be closely monitoring the current economic and labour market situation, and is looking at strengthening employment support to help displaced locals re-enter employment.

A soft economy in 2015 might have seen a higher number of workers laid off (15,580 compared to 12,930 in 2014), although unemployment remained low for residents at 2.8 per cent.

Key highlights:

• Slower Employment Growth

1. The effects of a sluggish economy and a tightened foreign manpower policy had moderated employment growth—total employment in Singapore grew by 23,300 or 0.7 per cent in 2015, compared to 3.7 per cent in 2014.
2. Local employment growth, on the other hand, flat-lined with a net increase of 700, or a zero percent change.

• Services Sector to lead Employment Growth

1. Domestic-oriented services are expected to bolster employment growth. Sectors such as Community, and Social & Personal Services, especially in the healthcare segment have been identified as key drivers for employment.

• Varied Productivity Growth

1. While overall labour productivity (as measured by value-added per worker) fell by 0.1 per cent, the productivity growth of export-oriented sectors as a whole outperformed that of domestically-oriented sectors in 2015.
2. Wholesale & Retail Trade, Financial & Insurance Services and Construction sectors registered increases in labour productivity over 2015.

• Broad-based Income Growth

1. Income, however, grew strongly last year with a nominal median monthly salary rising 6.5 per cent to $3,798. The results reflect the sustained rise in income at the medium and 20th percentile over the last five years.