Similar to flash figures released last December 2020, the report on Labour Force in Singapore 2020 report showed that the COVID-19 pandemic had a varied impact on different workforce segments.
These include:
The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) released the report on 28 January 2021.
Based on data collected from the Comprehensive Labour Force Survey (CLFS), the report analyses various labour market indicators on employment, unemployment, incomes and working hours.
Last year, CLFS 2020 was conducted during the Circuit Breaker period, thus the data was largely influenced by this situation.
Conducted annually since 1974, the CLFS survey was based on a sample of 33,000 households which were selected randomly to be representative of the Singapore population.
On Employment
The employment rate for residents aged 15 and over declined from 65.2 per cent in 2019 to 64.5 per cent in 2020. This was the lowest since 2014.
Youths aged 15 to 24 experienced the largest decrease in the employment rate among all age groups, reflecting the employment contraction in sectors where they commonly worked such as food and beverage services, administrative and support services and retail trade.
While the employment rate for residents aged 25 to 64 also declined, it remained close to the average of 80.5 per cent in the past five years.
In contrast, the employment rate for older residents aged 65 and over continued to increase, from 27.6 per cent in 2019 to 28.5 per cent in 2020. This reflects the sustained efforts to raise their employability and the higher demand for essential services like cleaning and security amid the COVID-19 outbreak.
The share of PMETs among employed residents increased at a faster pace in 2020 than in earlier years, reaching 60 per cent.
This is because industries with a higher concentration of PMETs, such as information and communications, financial and insurance services and professional services were less impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
On the other hand, the decline in non-PMET employment was larger than usual, pulled down by sectors more severely impacted by COVID-19 such as wholesale trade, retail trade, accommodation and food and beverage services.
Most of these industries have a higher concentration of non-PMETs in their workforce.
On Unemployment
Non-PMETs experienced a larger increase in the unemployment rate than PMETs, with both rates below previous recessionary peaks.
The increase in unemployment rates for both PMETs and non-PMETs were driven by shorter-term unemployment, as the increase in their long-term unemployment rates was considerably smaller.
PMETs in their 40s experienced a larger increase in the long-term unemployment rate compared to other age groups. Among non-PMETs, the long-term unemployment rate rose for residents aged below 30 and in their 40s, but held steady for residents aged 50 and over.
On Income
Median income fell to $4,534 in 2020 as compared to $4,563 the year before.
Despite the moderation in 2020, real median income growth over the recent five years (2015 to 2020) was close to that of the preceding five years (2010 to 2015), due to sustained income growth before 2020.
There was a steep decline in income for the lower-income group at the 20th percentile of full-time employed residents over the year, as industries more adversely affected by COVID-19 have a high concentration of lower-income earners.
However, help from the government to supplement incomes mitigated the impact.
On WFH and Reduced Work Hours
Beyond traditional indicators on employment, unemployment and income of workers, the CLFS 2020 also collected additional information on the impact of COVID-19, namely to size the number of persons working from home, and those with reduced working hours.
Nearly half (49 per cent) or 1,094,900 employed residents in Singapore had worked from home because of COVID-19.
A larger proportion of PMETs and clerical workers worked from home compared to those in other non-PMET occupations such as service and sales workers, craftsmen and cleaners, whose work typically needs to be done onsite or involve the use of machinery, vehicles or tools.
Reflecting this, the incidence of workers who worked from home was highest in information and communications, financial and insurance services, professional services and education, all of which had a high concentration of PMETs.
Relatively fewer workers from food and beverage services, transportation and storage, accommodation, retail trade, health and social services and administrative and support services worked from home.
Around one in ten (9.0 per cent) or 201,100 employed residents experienced a reduction in hours worked due to COVID-19, either in the form of shorter work hours than usual, or no-pay leave.
A higher share of workers in industries severely affected by COVID-19, namely accommodation, food and beverage services, other community, social and personal services and arts, entertainment and recreation had a reduction in hours worked.
Non-PMETs, lower-educated and older workers were also more likely to have experienced a reduction in working hours.
Read the full Labour Force in Singapore 2020 here.
