Singapore's gender wage gap shows little sign of narrowing
Last year, men out-earned women by 18%, just a whisker lower than the 19% a decade ago
Singapore
THE gender wage gap just refuses to go away in Singapore.
Last year, men still out-earned women by 18 per cent, says a report by consumer research group ValuePenguin. In 2006, the gap was 19 per cent, so not much has changed in the last 10 years.
In some industries, the income gap between men and women was as high as 41 per cent.
The Ministry of Manpower (MOM), in its analysis of data between 2006 and 2016, found the median monthly income of men in Singapore to be S$3,991, 18 per cent higher than the median for women, at S$3,382.
Back in 2006, the median gross monthly income of men was S$2,452, 19 per cent higher than the S$2,053 earned by women.
The figures include employer Central Provident Fund (CPF) contributions.
Singapore fares "much better" than places like South Korea, where men make 37 per cent more than women; the Republic may even rank among the most equal countries in the world in terms of economic participation and opportunity.
However, ValuePenguin said in its report that these mask the fact that Singapore made barely any improvement in closing the gender income gap in the past decade.
Some industries were found to have a wider gender income gap than others. Industries with some of the widest pay gaps included health & social services, manufacturing, public administration & education, information & communications, financial & insurance services, and professional services.
The difference in the income of men and women in these fields was more than S$1,000 a month.
On a more positive note, some of the industries above - specifically financial & insurance services, information & communications, and health & social services - also improved by the biggest margins compared to 2015.
For example, men in financial services earned S$731 more each month than to women last year, narrowed down from a difference of S$1,653 the year before.
On the flipside, the income gap yawned wider in industries such as public administration & education and wholesale & retail trade.
As a comparison, men in public administration made S$1,073 more than women per month in 2015; in 2016, the gap had grown to S$1,277.
One noteworthy finding from the report was that industries where women make as much - if not more - than men, tend to be lower-paying. These industries include the arts, entertainment & recreation, administrative & support services, and real estate services.
For instance, these industries' median monthly wage ranged from S$2,000 to S$4,000.
Industries with wider income gaps, such as financial & insurance services and public administration & education, tended to pay between S$5,000 to S$6,500 per month.
The report concluded that Singapore may be a leader in gender-equal pay, but that there is still "a ways to go" for men and women to reach parity in terms of their work compensation.
