CONTRACT PART-TIME WORKERS' TRENDS

CONTRACT PART-TIME WORKERS' TRENDS

3.

Mdm Halimah Yacob asked the Minister for Manpower in the wake of the current recession whether the Ministry has done any studies or observed any trends of (i) more people employed on contract or casual terms; (ii) people employed with terms and conditions of employment which are inferior to those on permanent employment; (iii) increase in non-compliance with statutory benefits provided under the Employment Act; and (iv) increase in the non-payment of CPF contributions.

Mr Gan Kim Yong: As at June 2009, the number of resident employees on term contracts, which includes those on fixed-term contracts and casual/on-call employment, rose by 4.3% over the year to 197,200. The growth is faster than the 0.8% increase in permanent employees. Consequently, the share of resident employees on term contracts rose from 12.4% in 2008 to 12.7% in 2009. This upward trend has been observed since the data was first collected in 2006, and thus the increase may not be fully attributed to the current recession.

Employees on term contracts, including casual workers, are covered under the CPF Act, Employment Act and other employment laws, just as regular, full-time, and part-time employees. In general, employees on term contracts tend to have less favourable terms of employment compared to those on permanent employment. However, the proportion of claims lodged with the Ministry by term contract employees has been low, averaging 3% over the past few years. We have not seen an increase in the number of claims by term contract employees this year. Incidents of non-payment of CPF have also remained low. The two-month employer default rate averaged about 0.6% from 2005 to the third quarter of this year.

The above suggests that there has not been a significant increase in non-compliance of statutory rights of employees on term contracts under the Employment Act and non-payment of CPF despite the recession.