MOM Reaffirms Commitment to Championing Singaporeans' Potential and Enabling Businesses to Thrive
Founded in 1955 as the Ministry of Labour and Welfare, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) is celebrating its 70th anniversary in 2025. A commemorative dinner was held on 5 April 2025 with President Tharman Shanmugaratnam as the Guest-of-Honour. At the dinner, MOM paid tribute to past and present MOM officers, tripartite partners, businesses, unions and community leaders for their contributions to the social and economic development of Singapore through developing our workforce and workplace.
2 MOM also unveiled its refreshed Mission, Vision, and Ministry logo (refer to Annex A and Annex B for more information). A commemorative book was also launched to recognise MOM’s long-standing history and contributions to nation-building. Details on the commemorative book are in Annex C.
MOM's Pivotal Contributions to Nation-Building
3 For seven decades, MOM has played a pivotal role in nation-building through advancing Singapore’s labour force. Singapore has come a long way from a nascent nation where unemployment was in double digits, wages were low and industrial unrest hindered progress, to a nation with one of the best workforces in the world, and an open and dynamic economy that is attractive to global talent and investments. Today, Singapore has one of the lowest unemployment rates at less than 3% and a high labour force participation rate of almost 70%, compared to other developed countries such as Canada and United Kingdom. Singaporeans have also experienced higher income growth compared to other major economies. Median real monthly income of our resident workers grew cumulatively by 3.5% from 2019 to 2024, outpacing that of the United Kingdom, the United States and Japan. Details of residents’ wage growth over the years is in Annex D.
4 At the same time, we have strived to make sure that no Singaporean is left behind. Over the last five years, the real income of lower-wage workers grew by 5.8%. Since the introduction of the Progressive Wage Model in 2012, we have expanded it to cover more than 150,000 lower-wage workers, and the Open Door Programme and Enabling Employment Credit have helped to increase the employment rate of persons with disabilities aged 15 to 64 from 28% to 34% over the past five years. Our workplace safety performance has also significantly improved over the years. In the last five years, fatality rates averaged 1.1 per 100,000 workers – comparable with other developed countries like the United Kingdom, Sweden and Germany. Upon retirement, we ensure workers are well-prepared with savings to meet their basic retirement needs. In the last decade, the proportion of active CPF members attaining their applicable Basic Retirement Sum at age 55 has improved from about 5 in 10 to more than 7 in 10 in 2024.
5 Tripartism remains a cornerstone to maintain harmonious industrial relations and co-create win-win solutions for workers and businesses. The establishment of the National Wages Council in 1972 provided a key platform for tripartite partners to set out a common consensus on wages in line with Singapore’s economic goals. This has enabled us to support employers and workers, ensuring labour market stability and competitiveness throughout economic crises and disruptions, such as industrial unrest in the 1970s, the Asian Financial Crisis, and COVID-19.
Looking to the Future
Supporting both Employers and Workers
6 Today, Singapore faces new and evolving challenges, such as a volatile global economy, ageing population, and technological disruptions. These challenges are also opportunities for the MOM to innovate, adapt and develop solutions to enable Singapore’s next phase of growth and development. We will continue to ensure availability of good jobs for locals, while supporting an open and dynamic economy that is business-friendly and attractive to complementary global talent.
7 In order for Singaporeans to seize good job opportunities and navigate changes in the economy and labour market, MOM is empowering Singaporeans to take charge of their careers and build career resilience, through initiatives like Career Health SG and SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support scheme. We are also continuing our efforts to shape fair and progressive workplaces with the Workplace Fairness Act. We will strengthen assurance for Singaporeans to meet their basic retirement needs, including early support for ‘Young Seniors’ through the Majulah Package.
8 Alongside our support for local workers, MOM will continue to support employers by expanding access to foreign manpower that complements the local workforce and by driving enterprise and workforce transformation. We will continue to work closely with our tripartite partners, Trade Associations and Chambers and other stakeholders to better anticipate issues and engender win-win outcomes for employers and workers to thrive in a globalised, technology-enabled world.
A Future-Ready MOM
9 To achieve operational excellence, MOM has been leveraging technological advances and ramping up digitalisation efforts. For example, MOM has enhanced our service delivery by improving the efficiency of our dispute resolution efforts through EmPOWER (Employment Practices and Progressive Workplaces Shared Platform), an online platform for managing end-to-end dispute resolution. MOM has also rolled out digital work passes alongside physical work passes. This benefits about 1.5 million work pass holders who can more easily access their work passes digitally. MOM is also leveraging technologies such as video surveillance systems to deter unsafe behaviour, identify workplace safety and health risks, and facilitate investigations into incidents.
10 To achieve the above and more, MOM is undergoing transformation to continue to be a fit-for-purpose and future-ready organisation. This includes strengthening our data analytics capabilities and adopting new technologies such as AI to strengthen policy-making and operations. We are also developing structured learning pathways and promoting career health for MOM officers, with the aim of building up skilled and agile officers who are well-equipped to carry out their jobs not just for today, but also in the future.
A Commitment to Singapore’s Future
11 Together with our partners, MOM will do our utmost to champion the potential of Singaporeans and build a future-ready workforce and workplace. As MOM transforms to address and overcome future challenges, we call on all Singaporeans to join us in collectively building a thriving nation for generations to come.