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Oral Answer by Mr Zaqy Mohamad Minister of State for Manpower to PQ on Government survey ion perceptions of discriminatory hiring and other HR practices

Employment practices

NOTICE PAPER NO. 1967 OF 2019 FOR THE SITTING ON 3 FEBRUARY 2020
QUESTION NO. 3438 FOR ORAL ANSWER

MP: Leon Perera

To ask the Minister for Manpower (a) whether a Government survey including employee respondents has been conducted on perceptions of discriminatory hiring and other HR practices, as a follow-up to past surveys focusing on employer respondents; and (b) if so, when will the findings be made public.

Answer

  1. The Government does not tolerate any form of workplace discrimination. In a 2018 survey commissioned by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), over 80% of job seekers did not feel that their gender, marital status, number of children, race, religion or nationality was an impediment when finding work. The majority of employees also felt that they were fairly treated in their organisation, in terms of their employment terms and benefits, training, career development, and performance evaluation.
  2. MOM and the Tripartite Alliance on Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP) follow up on feedback and complaints about workplace discrimination. This is complemented by TAFEP’s efforts to promote and advise employers on fair employment practices.
  3. Rather than depend on perception surveys alone, MOM relies on other indicators for evidence of workplace discrimination. A good indicator is the number of complaints, which decreased from about 580 in 2015 to about 200 in 2018 and constitutes less than 1% of all complaints received. Discriminatory job advertisements have become rare. Employment outcomes of groups such as women and older workers have also improved over the past decade. The employment rate of older residents aged 55 to 64 increased from 57% in 2009 to 68% in 2019. That of female residents aged 25 to 64 increased from 64% to 73% over the same period. The adjusted gender pay gap has also narrowed over time, down from 8.8% in 2002 to 6.3% in 2018.