Singapore is emerging as a leader in many sectors but when it comes to gender wage equality the country is surely lagging behind. According to a report published by Singapore-based financial analysis site Value Champion, Singapore’s gender wage gap increased in 2018, with the median monthly wage for women representing 88 per cent of men’s in the country (91 per cent in 2017).

Gender Pay Gap at the Lowest Level

In 2017, the median wage for women working full-time was 90.8 per cent of the median wage for men, in 2018 this ratio decreased to 87.5 per cent, its lowest in the past decade, an analysis of the Manpower Ministry’s labour statistics has shown that in 2017.

The wage gap was widest in the industries of health and social services (62 per cent), manufacturing (77 per cent), accommodation and food services (78 per cent), information and communications (79 per cent) and financial and insurance services (80 per cent).

The wage gap tends to be particularly high in the health and social services, manufacturing, accommodation and food services, information and communications and financial and insurance services industries, the report found.

This group also includes some of the highest paying industries, which suggests that women are less likely to have some of the highest paying roles in the country. For example, women make up 52 per cent of the financial and insurance industry workforce, but just 43 per cent of the employees earning at least S$7,000 per month in that sector. Similarly, women make up 77 per cent of the health and social services workforce, but represent only 51 per cent of employees in that industry earn at least S$7,000 monthly. Meanwhile, women represent 85 per cent of the employees earning less than S$2,000 per month.

Industries With The Least Gender Wage Gap

Women face a relatively smaller wage gap in industries such as real estate, construction, arts and recreation and other service-related sectors, the report highlights.

In fact, the median wage for women in the transportation & storage and administrative industries is actually higher than it is for men. However, it is worth noting that women make up just 24 per cent of the transportation and storage and 26 per cent of the construction workforces. This suggests that the impact of this wage advantage in these industries may be somewhat limited for women in Singapore.

Tracing 2017

In order to understand the dynamics of Singapore’s widening gender wage gap, the report analysed changes between 2017 and 2018. It found that women made significantly less compared to men in the real estate services and health and social services industries in 2018 compared to 2017. Additionally, women’s median wages in transportation and storage and administrative and support services exceeded men’s by a smaller margin in 2018 than in 2017. For example, the median wage of women in the transportation and storage industry was 150 per cent of their male counterparts in 2018, but just 127 percent in 2018.