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Written Answer by Minister for Manpower Mrs Josephine Teo on Profile of Workers Earning Monthly Basic Salary of Less Than $3000

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NOTICE PAPER NO. 330 OF 2021 FOR THE SITTING ON 5 APRIL

QUESTION NO. 841 FOR WRITTEN ANSWER TO QUESTION FOR ORAL ANSWER NOT ANSWERED BY END OF QUESTION TIME

MP: Mr Patrick Tay Teck Guan

To ask the Minister for Manpower of the 36,000 professionals, managers and executives who are earning a monthly basic salary of less than $3,000 as at 31 December 2020, which are the industry sectors they belong to and what are these occupations.

Answer: 

  1. Based on 2019 estimates, Managers and Executives (M&Es) earning a monthly basic salary of $3,000 and below were more commonly found in Health and Social Services, Education, Design and Advertising. They were predominantly younger, having been in their current jobs for less than two years. They were also distributed across many occupations, including nurses, primary school teachers, accountants, graphic designers and part-time polytechnic lecturers. Findings from the 2020 survey will be available later this year.
  2. MOM has progressively strengthened employment protections for M&Es over the years. Most recently in 2019, MOM removed the $4,500 salary threshold for M&Es to be covered for core provisions under the Employment Act (EA), such as holiday and sick leave entitlements. With this, all M&Es are covered for these core provisions.
  3. MOM will continue to work closely with tripartite partners to ensure that employment laws remain relevant and responsive to labour market conditions and the needs of our workforce.