Strong Employment Growth

The June-to-September period saw very strong employment, with the highest gain in the services sector.

In the recently released MOM publication, Employment Situation Third Quarter 2007, it is estimated that the current employment level (as at September 2007) stands at 2,667,400.

This means there are about 2.7 million workers in Singapore. How many of these are Singapore residents?

From some numbers given in the MOM report, I figure that the number of resident workers is about 1.9+ million. (I used the unemployment numbers in my calculations.)

The rest are obviously foreign workers.

Anyway, I'm sure you know that not all of the resident workers are high income earners, at least not high enough to pay taxes.

In fact, according to the latest Iras report for YA2006, only 745,071 residents made $20,001 and above (see my post on comparing income). And not all of them are workers - you can still be a taxpayer if you are a landlord collecting thousands in monthly rentals.

But I digress.

I mentioned earlier that the services sector enjoyed the highest employment growth.

The services sector is surging so much ahead that out of the 2.6+ million job positions in Singapore, 1.8+ million are in the services sector alone, which is more than double of all the other sectors combined (i.e. manufacturing, construction, agriculture, fishing, quarrying, utilities and sewerage & waste management).

So you say, Singapore is fast becoming a services place, but which are the jobs in the services sector?

I quote from this page in MOM website:

- Financial, insurance, real estate and business services;
- Transport, storage and communications services;
- Commerce (retail and wholesale trade);
- Community, social and personal services (excluding domestic workers);
- Hotels;
- Restaurants, coffee shops, food courts and other approved food establishments;
- Dispatch and delivery services; or
- Hairdressing and beauty shops.

http://www.salary.sg/2007/strong-employment-growth/

Is there anyway for you to do income comparison software for that include all Singapore residents and not just the taxpayers?

It would be really interesting to see just how big is the income gap.

Sorry for my mangled English.

Is there anyway for you to do income comparison for all Singapore residents and not just the taxpayers?

It would be really interesting to see just how big is the income gap.

at82, what I could do is to include those in the $0-$20,000 income range who still filed their tax returns.
But there will still be a lot unaccounted for, e.g. housewives who left the workforce for some time, students, children and old people.
Or do you mean residents who are gainfully employed?

Oh. Yeah, residents who are gainfully employed is the proper phrase.

at82, thanks for your input. Please see http://www.salary.sg/2007/compare-income-part-2/ where I included the non-taxable (those whose income are low enough for them not to pay tax).