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Proportion of Work Passes Issued Arising from Non-resident Employment Growth in Q2 2026
Speakers: Gerald Giam Yean Song, Jasmin Lau
Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song asked the Acting Minister for Manpower (a) of the 9,200 non-resident employment growth figure in the second quarter of 2026, how many were (i) Work Permit (ii) S Pass and (iii) Employment Pass holders, respectively; (b) of the S Pass and Employment Pass holders, which occupations saw the highest growth; and (c) how did this compare with resident employment growth in those same occupations.
The Acting Minister for Manpower (Ms Jasmin Lau): Mr Speaker, of the 9,200 net increase in non-resident employment in the second quarter of 2026, Work Permit holders, excluding migrant domestic workers, accounted for an increase of 10,900, while S Pass and Employment Pass holders each declined by 900.
The occupational data for the second quarter of 2026 is not yet available. At the sectoral level, S Pass and Employment Pass declines were concentrated in professional services, financial services, and information and communications, while resident employment in these sectors increased.
S Pass and Employment Pass employment increased most in administrative and support services. This is a broad sector covering security, cleaning, recruitment and office support services, among others. The increase was mainly in office administrative and support services. On the other hand, resident employment fell in the broader administrative and support services sector, although this was concentrated in a different sub-sector of employment placement and recruitment services.
As the resident and non-resident movements were driven by different sub-sectors, the available data from the second quarter does not suggest displacement of residents by S Pass and Employment Pass holders.
Mr Speaker: Mr Giam.
Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song (Aljunied): Sir, I thank the Acting Minister for the replies. The third quarter Labour Market Advance Report, which was just released, shows retrenchments rose to 4,800, mainly driven by business re-organisation. Does the Ministry match retrenchment data against new Employment Pass and S Pass approvals to verify employers are not replacing laid-off residents with foreign pass holders in similar roles?
Secondly, according to the third quarter Labour Market Advance Report, resident employment growth has been propped up mainly by essential and public services, while resident growth in outward-oriented sectors remain subdued. Given that outward-oriented sectors typically register higher productivity growth and therefore, higher salary growth than domestic oriented ones, is the Ministry concerned about a growing structural bifurcation in our workforce, where locals are increasingly confined to non-tradable sectors while non-residents capture a lion's share of higher productivity growth in tradable sectors?
Ms Jasmin Lau: I thank the Member for his questions. On the first question, we do ask for retrenchment reasons, and depending on the reasons and the situation for the company, we may decide to check.
On the second question, I would advise the Member to file a separate Parliamentary Question because this requires time to go through the situation for the economy.