Higher-Paid Jobs in Singapore Are Still Dominated by Men
Singapore’s Gender Pay Gap Is Narrowing, Straits Times Reports
(Bloomberg) --
The pay gap between men and women in Singapore has narrowed over the last decade and a half, but females are still over-represented in roles with lower wage increases, a study showed.
The gender pay differential, adjusted for age and education level, was 6% in 2018 compared with 8.8% in 2002, according to research by the Ministry of Manpower and National University of Singapore economist Jessica Pan. Similar analyses in other countries showed gaps of 8% in the U.S., 7.7%-8.3% in Canada and 18.3% in China, the study showed.
While the employment rate for women in Singapore rose to 78% from 62.2% over the period and more women are now in professional and managerial roles, higher-paying roles are still male-dominated.
Occupational differences accounted for nearly half of the pay gap, with jobs such as company heads and software developers more likely to be filled by men, and women in more positions where salary advances are less, the study showed.
One other sign of progress: education. In 2002, only 36% of women had at least a diploma qualification -- in 2018, the number had nearly doubled to 71%, the study found.
Disparity between the genders is a worldwide phenomenon. The economic gender gap will take 257 years to close, the World Economic Forum said in a report last month. That’s even more than the 202 years it predicted in 2018.
--With assistance from Jill Ward.
To contact the reporter on this story: Joanna Ossinger in Singapore at jossinger@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Christopher Anstey at canstey@bloomberg.net, Derek Wallbank, Jake Lloyd-Smith
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