Shorter working hours, better upward income mobility: 5 trends among S’pore resident workers in 2024

SINGAPORE – The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) on Nov 28 released early findings from its annual survey on the resident labour force in Singapore.

The 2024 figures show that real income growth, which factors in inflation, has rebounded out of the negative range seen in 2023.

However, Singapore’s ageing population has also affected the composition of the workforce, with one key concern being fewer younger people to support growing numbers of those aged 65 and above.

Here are five other key trends that can be gleaned from the report.

1. Working hours continued to fall

In 2024, employed residents, comprising citizens and permanent residents, worked 41.6 hours a week on average.

This is five hours less than in 2010, when workers were clocking 46.6 usual hours per week on average.

MOM said in its report that this decline is part of a long-term trend that is also observed in other advanced countries, arising mainly from reduced hours for full-timers.

“Contributing factors include the shift to a more regular work week, decreased excessive work hours, and improved efficiency through training, technology, and flexible work arrangements,” the ministry said.

MOM added that the proportion of full-time employed residents who usually worked over 48 hours a week has continued to decline, at 16.9 per cent in 2024, down from 17.3 per cent in 2023 and 28.4 per cent in 2014.

The sustained decline in average weekly usual hours worked among full-timers was seen among both professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) and non-PMETs, the ministry said.

“While non-PMETs still worked longer hours than PMETs, non-PMETs experienced a greater reduction in usual weekly hours worked than PMETs over the last 10 years.”

2. Better upward income mobility

A larger share of workers saw better income progression in the post-Covid-19 period of 2021 to 2024 compared with the pre-pandemic period of 2016 to 2019.

Post-pandemic, three in five workers enjoyed income growth of at least 5 per cent per year, up from two in five during the pre-Covid-19 period.

Moreover, broadly speaking, lower income bands had higher shares of workers with annual income growth of at least 5 per cent.

For the 2021 to 2024 period, nearly seven in 10 of those earning below $2,000 saw an increase of at least 5 per cent per year, a figure that falls to about half for those earning $8,000 a month and over.

Among workers earning below $2,000 a month in 2021, whose incomes increased by at least 5 per cent per year till 2024, 89 per cent had moved up to the next income band and earned at least $2,000 in 2024.

MOM said a greater share of workers experienced this upward income mobility post-pandemic. In comparison, from 2016 to 2019, only 67 per cent of those in the bottom income band who had similar income growth moved up to the next band and earned at least $2,000 in 2019.

This trend was also present for higher income bands up to $7,999 a month, though to a lesser extent.

MOM noted that higher-paying sectors, such as financial and insurance services, professional services, and information and communications, saw a higher incidence of upward income mobility.

Firms in those sectors could be better positioned to provide salary increases to attract and retain talent, as these sectors are relatively more productive, MOM said.

In general, PMETs had a higher tendency for upward income mobility than non-PMETs, it noted.

Those with tertiary education were also more likely to experience better wage outcomes than those without.

3. Fewer regular platform workers

A total of 67,600 residents engaged in platform work regularly in 2024, making up 2.7 per cent of all employed residents, down from the 70,500 residents who did so in 2023.

The main reason was a fall in the number of taxi drivers and private-hire car drivers.

“There could be fewer who did such platform work regularly, as increased salaried work opportunities could have prompted these platform workers to take up salaried jobs as their regular job,” MOM said.

Still, almost nine in 10 workers who regularly did platform work as their primary job took it up because they preferred to do so.

Workers aged 50 and above and those without a tertiary education continued to form the lion’s share of these regular primary platform workers, with their lead extending further between 2023 and 2024.

4. Underemployment fell overall but rose for certain groups

The ministry’s Nov 28 report noted that time-related underemployment in 2024 stayed at a low rate of 2.3 per cent, the same as in 2023.

However, it crept up for certain groups of workers, such as those in professional services, administrative and support services as well as arts, entertainment and recreation.

Someone is considered time-related underemployed if they are aged 15 years and over and normally work less than 35 hours a week but are willing and available to do additional work.

Still, the number of discouraged workers declined from 9,100 in 2023 to 7,400 in 2024.

These are people outside the labour force who are not actively looking for a job because they believe their job search would not yield results.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore said in its latest macroeconomic review released in October that some groups of workers may be having greater difficulty securing employment that matches their skills, running the risk of underemployment.

It based its view on the declining proportion of retrenched PMETs and older workers who re-entered the workforce within six months of retrenchment.

Asked to comment on the central bank’s take on the matter, Mr Ang Boon Heng, director of MOM’s manpower research and statistics department, said there are other reasons these groups may not take up a new job within six months.

These include pursuing further training or taking more time to find a better job, which he said is borne out by follow-up surveys MOM has done on retrenched workers.

5. Unemployment ticked up in trade-dependent sectors

MOM said the resident unemployment rate declined or remained similar over the year in most industries but rose in some, especially in the information and communications sector as well as financial and insurance services, both of which are outward-oriented.

The unemployment rate in information and communications rose from 3.8 per cent in 2023 to 5 per cent in 2024, and that for financial and insurance services rose from 3 per cent to 3.8 per cent.

MOM attributed this trend partially to the rise in retrenchments from business restructuring of companies impacted by global economic headwinds in both sectors.