How many of the 114,900 resident employment growth from 2020 to 2023 were Singaporeans?
While the Manpower Minister reported a growth of 114,900 in resident employment from 2020 to 2023, 95,398 new PRs were granted between 2020 and 2022. So, how many of the growth in residents were actually Singaporeans?
by Leong Sze Hian
From 2020 to 2022, resident employment grew by more than 110,000, while foreign employment declined by 3,000 during the same period.
Manpower Minister Dr. Tan See Leng stated that this demonstrates the Government's efforts to safeguard resident employment.
This statement was made in response to inquiries from Gerald Giam, Workers' Party Member of Parliament for Aljunied GRC, who asked for a breakdown of the 4,900 growth in resident employment in 2023 and how many of these were Singaporean workers.
Despite repeated queries from Mr Giam and Mr Leong Mun Wai, the Progress Singapore Party's Non-Consituency Member of Parliament, Dr Tan declined to disclose the figures of Singaporean workers employed in 2023.
The minister noted that although the majority—83,500—of the 88,400 workers added in 2023 were foreigners, higher-skilled Employment Pass (EP) and S Pass holders accounted for about 18,700, or 22.4 percent, of that foreign employment growth.
This suggests that, including the data for 2023 with that from 2020 to 2022, resident employment grew by more than 114,900 (110,000 + 4,900), and foreign employment increased by 80,500 (-3,000 + 83,500).
Since "resident employment growth" includes Permanent Residents (PRs) and Singaporeans, what is the breakdown between PRs and Singaporeans?
According to government statistics, 95,398 new PRs were granted from 2020 to 2022. In 2022 alone, 34,493 individuals were granted PR (with 2023 statistics not yet available).
When a foreigner in the workforce is granted PR status, he or she is counted as part of the resident employment growth due to the status conversion from non-resident to resident.
For illustrative purposes, if the number of PRs granted in 2023 was similar to 2022's figure of 34,493, this would total 129,891 (95,398 + 34,493) from 2020 to 2023.
If about 60% were in the workforce, does it mean that approximately 77,935 (60% of 129,891) could be counted as resident employment growth from 2020 to 2023?
Therefore, how many of the 114,900 resident employment growth from 2020 to 2023 were Singaporeans?
