SINGAPORE: Non-professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) experienced a higher jobless rate compared to PMETs, as industries more affected by COVID-19 had a greater concentration of non-PMETs, latest data from the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) showed.
Resident unemployment rate among non-PMETs increased by 1.7 percentage points from 4.7 per cent in June 2019 to 6.4 per cent in June 2020.
Among their professional counterparts, that rate increased by only 0.6 percentage points from 2.9 per cent to 3.5 per cent in the same period, according to MOM’s 2020 Labour Force in Singapore Advance Release report published on Thursday (Dec 3).
However, MOM said those figures were still below what was seen during the SARS outbreak and global financial crisis. In 2004, unemployment was at 6.7 per cent and 4.1 per cent for non-PMETs and PMETs respectively, and 6.9 per cent and 3.9 per cent in 2009.
Industries more badly impacted by COVID-19 faced more job cutbacks. In front-facing sectors like accommodation, retail trade, and food & beverages services, the unemployment rate rose by 5 percentage points, 2.2 percentage points, and 1.8 percentage points respectively.
Among non-PMETs, unemployment rates rose steeply across all age groups.
And while the increase in the unemployment rate among PMETs was relatively narrower, older executives aged 50 and above saw a spike in unemployment - from 3.2 per cent in June last year to 4.3 per cent in June this year.
The report said that unemployment among both groups were largely due to short-term joblessness, as long-term unemployment (25 weeks or more) grew at a smaller rate.
The share of PMETs in the resident workforce continued to increase, from 58.4 per cent in 2019 to 59.9 per cent this year, as sectors with more PMETs faced fewer COVID-19 headwinds.
Non-PMET employment also fell, from 41.6 per cent to 40.2 per cent year-on-year, as it was pulled down by sectors more severely impacted by COVID-19 that tend to hire more non-PMETs.
This year, more of them were also in casual or on-call employment terms instead of permanent and fixed contract terms, owing to greater demand for delivery, e-commerce and security services, the report said.
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Real median income growth among full-time employed residents contracted by 0.3 per cent, after growing by 2.2 per cent in 2019.
The nominal median income - unadjusted for inflation - of full-time employed residents dipped from S$4,563 in 2019 to S$4,534 in 2020.
Income at the 20th percentile suffered greater losses, as real income growth contracted by 4.5 per cent. The nominal income slid from S$2,457 to S$2,340.
MOM said industries that were more severely impacted by COVID-19 have a high concentration of lower-income earners.
Incomes of lower-income self-employed workers such as taxi and private-hire car drivers, and hawkers were also hurt by the plunge in tourist arrivals, work-from-home arrangements, and hiatus in dine-in services during the 'circuit breaker'.
However, MOM said that after including Workfare payouts - income supplements for low-wage workers - the 20th percentile income level in 2020, at S$2,449, is similar to 2019’s level of S$2,457.
Real income growth at the median and 20th percentile went up by 2.7 per cent and 2.9 per cent respectively.
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