Written Answer by Mr Tan Chuan-Jin, Acting Minister for Manpower & Senior Minister of State, National Development, to Parliamentary Question on Workers in Singapore earning less than $1,000 per month

Notice Paper No. 397 Of 2012 For The Sitting On 12 Nov 2012
Question No. 358 For Written Answer.

MP: Mr Gerald Giam

Question:

To ask the Acting Minister for Manpower how many workers in Singapore currently earn less than $1,000 per month (for full-time work) or less than $5.25 per hour (for part-time or daily rated work), with a breakdown by Singaporeans, permanent residents and work pass holders.

Answer:

In June 2011¹, around 110,000 full-time employed residents in Singapore (or around 6% of the full-time employed resident workforce) earned less than $1,000 in monthly gross income. Of these full-time employed residents, almost 10,000 were Singapore Permanent Residents and the rest Singapore Citizens. The Ministry is unable to provide the corresponding information for work pass holders as the data is not collected in our annual Labour Force Surveys. The Ministry also does not collect information on hourly wages in Singapore and is unable to provide the number of part-time employees who earn less than $5.25 per hour.

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¹MOM’s Labour Force Survey