SINGAPORE - Despite significant challenges both at home and abroad, Singapore has grown faster than other developed economies and key Asian peers in the seven years since the global financial crisis, Minister of Trade and Industry Lim Hng Kiang said in Parliament on Friday.

He noted that the global economy remains relatively weak and this lacklustre performance is expected to persist.

Still, the Singapore economy managed to grow by an average of 4.7 per cent annually since 2007, faster than economies like Japan and the European Union.

Singapore's unemployment rate has not exceeded 3 per cent since 2007, even in the depths of the crisis, Mr Lim said.

About 112,00 jobs have been created every year since 2008. More than two-thirds of the jobs created in the resident workforce were professional, managerial, executive and technical (PMET) jobs.

The median income of employed households headed by Singaporeans has also been on the rise, going up 2.9 per cent yearly since 2007.

These numbers show that efforts to restructure the economy over the past few years have put Singapore on the right track towards long-term growth, the minister said.

These efforts are gaining traction in the manufacturing and exportable services sectors, which have seen strong labour productivity growth.

"We should persevere...so that we can replicate these improvements in the other sectors, particularly the domestic-oriented sectors," Mr Lim said.