Written Answer to PQ on Productivity TFP on wage growth for workers

NOTICE PAPER NO. 952 OF 2026 FOR THE SITTING ON 7 JULY 2026
QUESTION NO. 2377 FOR ORAL ANSWER

MP: Mr Melvin Yong Yik Chye

To ask the Minister for Manpower (a) how labour productivity and Total Factor Productivity have grown across the economy over the past five years; (b) what factors have contributed to recent changes to Total Factor Productivity; and (c) how productivity and profitability growth have contributed to real wage growth for workers.

Answer:

From 2020 to 2025, Singapore’s labour productivity, measured by real value-added per actual hour worked and real value-added per worker, grew by 2.6 per cent per annum and 3.0 per cent per annum respectively. Over the same period, total factor productivity (TFP) grew by 2.4 per cent per annum.

2. TFP growth in the past five years has been supported by continued business transformation, workforce upskilling and reskilling, and Government investments in research and development through the Research, Innovation and Enterprise Plan, alongside initiatives promoting digitalisation and artificial intelligence adoption. Our foreign workforce strategy also enables this. We continue to remain globally connected and open to talent that can complement our skilled local workforce, while reducing reliance on foreign labour where there is scope to raise productivity. These efforts have strengthened firms’ productivity and competitiveness. The proportion of profitable establishments rose from 62.8 per cent in 2020 to 83.1 per cent in 2025.

3. From 2020 to 2025, real median income of full-time employed residents grew 1.6 per cent per annum, broadly in tandem with productivity gains, suggesting wage growth has been sustainable and underpinned by improvements in underlying economic productivity.