Private-car hire drivers surge by over 10,000 as pandemic pushes gig, contract workers to 228,000

Singapore

WHILE the recent increase in contract workers amid the Covid-19 pandemic may not necessarily be sustained as the labour market normalises, the longer-term trend is likely here to stay, said analysts.

In 2020, the share of own-account workers - self-employed workers who are not employers - among working residents rose to 9.7 per cent, the highest in the last decade and up from 8.8 per cent in 2019, figures from the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) showed.