employment rate number game

• skythewood

  28 Nov 08, 11:17

  S'pore's employment rate up

  The improvement in employment figures mainly resulted from more females who were previously outside the labour force becoming employed. -- PHOTO: BT

  SINGAPORE'S employment rate rose to a new high in mid-year, despite the more challenging economic outlook - boosted by more women joining the workforce.

  The job rate for Singapore residents aged 25 to 64 rose to a new high of 77 per cent, from 76.5 per cent a year ago, according to the Singapore Workforce 2008 report released by the Ministry of Manpower's research and statistics department on Friday. The findings were based on a labour force survey conducted in mid-2008.

  'The improvement mainly resulted from more females who were previously outside the labour force becoming employed,' said MOM in a statement.

  The employment rate for older Singaporeans aged 55 to 64 also rose by another 1 per cent over the year to 57.2 per cent in June, thanks to continuing efforts to enhance the employability of older people.

  Reflecting more cautious hiring sentiments amid the economic slowdown, the resident unemployment rate rose from a decade low of 2.4 per cent in December 2007 to 3.1 per cent in June.

  Since then, the seasonally adjusted resident unemployment rate rose further to 3.3 per cent in September 2008 amid the economic contraction and continued weakening in economic outlook.

  But the jobless rate also went up, after reaching a decade low in the second half of 2007, with the less skilled remaining more vulnerable to unemployment.

  The report also shows that the median monthly income for full-time employed residents went up by 11 per cent to $2,590 in 2008, up from the gain of 7.7 per cent in 2007.

  After adjusting for higher inflation, the increase in median income was 4.6 per cent compared with 5.5 per cent in 2007.

  The income growth in 2008 partly reflects the spillover effect from the strong economic performance last year and the higher proportion of Professional, Managerial, Executive & Technician (PMETs), whose income is typically higher, among employed residents in 2008.

  Here are the other key findings of the survey:

   

• There were 1,928,300 residents in the labour force in June 2008, comprising 1,093,200 males and 835,100 females. The resident labour force grew by 2.71 per cent in June 2008, up from 2 per cent a year ago. This was driven by both growth in the resident population and female labour force participation rate.

   

• Most of the new jobs taken up by residents were in PMET positions. In the last two years, there were continued employment gains for residents in PMET occupations across all major sectors, but more so in services. Conversely, the number of residents employed in non-PMET occupations fell over the past two years.

   

• There were fewer residents employed in non-PMET jobs in manufacturing and services, but more in construction. This partly reflects the improvement in educational profile of the resident labour force. Consequently, PMETs now formed 51 per cent of the resident workforce, up from 41 per cent a decade ago. Correspondingly, the share of production and related workers declined from 30 per cent to 24 per cent and clerical, sales & service workers from 29 per cent to 25 per cent.

  More comprehensive data will be published in the Report on Labour Force in Singapore 2008 on Jan 30.

  The report is available online on the Ministry of Manpower's website athttp://www.mom.gov.sg/mrsd/publication.