Summary of tripartite workgroup's focus group discussion on concerns from self-employed persons in the creative, media and entertainment industries

17 November 2017 Employment practices

The tripartite workgroup on Self-Employed Persons (SEP)¹ is inviting the public to give feedback on SEPs’ top concerns in the future economy.

Coffeeshop Talks on Concerns of SEPs

To complement the ongoing REACH public consultation exercise and to gain a more in-depth understanding of the challenges faced by SEPs and possible ways to address them, the tripartite workgroup is organising a series of Coffeeshop Talks with stakeholders.
The first talk was held on 14 November 2017 at NTUC Centre with 30 attendees from the creative, media and entertainment industries. They consist of SEP community leaders, service-buyers, and platform intermediaries. More talks will be organised with SEPs and other stakeholders from different industries within the next few months.
A summary of the discussions from the talk on 14 November 2017 can be found at the Annex of this media release. Photographs and quotes from selected participants can be found on MOM’s Facebook Page: https://goo.gl/gCo74p

Call for Public Feedback through REACH Consultation

The REACH consultation paper is available on the REACH website. Members of the public may email their feedback to mom_consultations@mom.gov.sg, with the title “Consultation on SEPs’ Top Concerns in the Future Economy”, by 22 December, 6pm. The tripartite workgroup will consolidate and publish a summary of the key comments received, together with our responses, subsequently.

Definition of Self-Employed Person

SEPs refer to persons who operate their own trade or business. Those who do not employ any paid worker and are not contributing family members are also known as “own account workers”. “Own account worker” is the more formal term used in MOM’s Labour Force Supplementary Survey on Own Account Workers, and which follows closely to the International Labour Organisation’s classification of Status in Employment.
SEPs work in diverse occupations and include taxi drivers, real estate agents, property agents, private hire car drivers and private tutors.
SEPs are not casual, temporary, or term-contract employees who are on employment contracts for fixed periods of time.

FOOTNOTE

As announced by the Minister for Manpower in March this year, a tripartite workgroup has been formed to look into SEPs’ concerns and to come up with practical solutions for the wellbeing of SEPs in our future economy. The workgroup comprises members from MOM, National Trades Union Congress and the Singapore National Employers Federation.