Labour, Employment, Wages and Productivity 

Age-Sex Specific Labour Force Participation Rate

Refer to the percentage of economically active persons to the population in the specific sex and age group.

Employed Persons

Refer to persons aged fifteen years and over who, during the reference period: (i) work for one hour or more either for pay, profit or family gains; or (ii) have a job or business but are temporarily absent because of illness, injury, breakdown of machinery at workplace, labour-management dispute or other reasons. Members of the Singapore Armed Forces including full-time National Servicemen are included in the count of persons employed, unless otherwise specified.

Economically Active Persons

Refer to persons aged fifteen years and over who are either employed or unemployed during the reference period. This group is also known as the labour force.

Labour Productivity

See Productivity.

Unemployed Persons

Refer to persons aged fifteen years and over who are not working but are available for work and are actively looking for a job during the reference period. They include persons who are not working but are taking steps to start their own business or taking up a new job after the reference period.

Unit Labour Cost

The average cost of labour per unit of output. It is computed as Total Labour Cost (TLC) per unit of real Gross Value Added (GVA). 

Total labour cost consists of:

  • Compensation of Employees (CoE)
  • Labour Income of self-employed
  • Other labour related costs (e.g. Foreign Workers' Levy and net training costs) incurred by the employers
  • Wage subsidies (e.g. Wage Credit Scheme and Jobs Credit Scheme) that are provided to the employers

Wage subsidies reduce labour cost of employers and are netted off from TLC.