Skip to main content
About Us

Written Answer by Mrs Josephine Teo Minister for Manpower to PQ on Female Workforce Participation

Employment practices

NOTICE PAPER NO. 64 OF 2020 FOR THE SITTING ON 5 OCTOBER 2020

QUESTION NO. 96 FOR WRITTEN ANSWER

MP: Mr Desmond Choo 

To ask the Minister for Manpower over the last five years, what is the trend of female workforce participation for those with younger children across the income deciles.

Answer 

  1. Labour force participation for a given group informs us of the percentage of persons (working or not working) who are participating in the labour force. But since individuals without work do not draw an income, labour force participation cannot be measured by income deciles. However, over the past five years, our overall female labour force participation rate for those with younger children has risen. Refer to Table 1 for the breakdown.

Table 1: Female Labour Force Participation Rate of Residents1 Aged 25 - 54 by Presence of Young Dependents(s), June (in percentages)

  2015  2016
  2017   2018 2019 
 At least 1 Child Aged 12 & Below  73.4  75.9  76.6  76.6  77.0
 At least 1 Child Aged Below 6  75.1  77.0  78.2  77.5  78.7
  1. On this front, Singapore fares well internationally. Our overall female labour force participation rate for those with at least one child aged below six was ranked amongst the top five OECD countries in 2018, the latest year for which comparison data is available2. 

FOOTNOTE

  1. Residents refer to Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents.
  2. Data was available for comparison with 21 OECD countries.