Potential Increase in Women's Participation in Labour Force in Relation to Gender Pay Gap
Ministry of FinanceSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns the potential increase in women's labour force participation in relation to narrowing the gender pay gap as discussed in a Monetary Authority of Singapore study. Mr Patrick Tay Teck Guan asked about the projected increase in female workforce participation for every percentage point reduction or if the gap were eliminated. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong stated that a 1%-point decline in the wage gap correlates with a 0.2 percentage point increase in female participation. He noted that Singapore’s female participation rate of 62.6% is already above the OECD average and is influenced by broader factors beyond wages. These include improvements in educational attainment, fostering shared caregiving responsibilities, and providing family-friendly workplaces to help caregivers manage their work and family commitments.
Transcript
1 Mr Patrick Tay Teck Guan asked the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance in view of the study on Singapore's current resident labour force participation rate as reported in Macroeconomic Review published by MAS in April 2024, what will be the potential increase in the number of women participating in the labour force (i) for each percentage point of decline in gender pay gap and (ii) if the gender pay gap is eliminated.
Mr Gan Kim Yong (for the Prime Minister): The Monetary Authority of Singapore's study of Singapore's labour force participation rate, published in the April 2024 Macroeconomic Review, suggests that a 1%-point decline in the gender wage gap, defined as the percentage difference between the median wage for resident males and the median wage for resident females, is associated with a 0.2 percentage point increase in the female labour force participation rate, and 0.1 percentage point increase in the overall labour force participation rate.1
This result should be interpreted in the context of Singapore's already high labour force participation rate among women. In 2023, the labour force participation rate among women in Singapore was 62.6%, higher than the OECD average of 56.7%. Factors other than the gender wage gap will also affect the female and overall labour force participation rate. These factors include further improvements in educational attainment, as well as fostering the sharing of caregiving responsibilities and family-friendly workplaces to help caregivers manage work and family commitments.
Collectively, these factors will be important for reducing the gender wage gap while helping ensure that the labour force participation rate among women in Singapore continues to remain high.