Short-term contracts form smaller share of jobs, with permanent roles at record high: MOM

[SINGAPORE] Contract roles form a decreasing share of all jobs in Singapore, with the share of permanent roles hitting a record high of 90.8 per cent this year, according to the Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM) annual Labour Force in Singapore Advance Release on Friday (Nov 28).

This is up from 90.1 per cent in 2024, with the share of permanent employees rising or holding steady across most age, education and occupational groups.

Despite anecdotal reports of younger Singaporeans – particularly fresh graduates – finding it harder to secure permanent roles, MOM’s report found “no sustained shift towards shorter-term roles among younger workers”.

Youth aged 15 to 24 saw the largest rise in the share of resident employees in permanent roles. This climbed to 65.8 per cent, from 58 per cent a year earlier.

For this group, the share of fixed-term contract roles fell to 27.4 per cent, from 29.3 per cent, while those in casual or on-call roles dropped to 6.8 per cent, from 12.6 per cent.

Those aged 25 to 29 also saw a higher share of permanent roles at 91.1 per cent, up from 90.1 per cent the year before.

Overall, the share of fixed-term contract workers across all age groups slipped to 7 per cent, from 7.3 per cent, with most contracts lasting a year or longer.

Casual or on-call workers continued to make up a small segment of the workforce, falling to a record low of 2.2 per cent, from 2.7 per cent last year.

Nationally representative

At a media briefing ahead of the report’s release, MOM director of manpower research and statistics Ang Boon Heng said that sentiment on the ground may not always align with national data.

“There’s always this disconnect between what we hear on the ground and what we see from our surveys,” he said, noting that survey results reflect the whole economy rather than individual experiences.

MOM’s survey, conducted between Mar 3 and Jul 31 this year, covered 33,000 households and achieved an overall response rate of 86.8 per cent. 

“Of course, there will be pockets where people find difficulties; that will always be the case,” said Ang.

However, he stressed that overall trends remain clear, pointing to a “consistent uptrend” in permanent employment across sectors and age groups.

This includes growth sectors such as professional services; health and social services; and information and communications.

MOM noted that these sectors also saw a higher representation of professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs), contributing to the rise in the PMET share among employed residents from 63.8 per cent in 2024 to 64.2 per cent in 2025. 

Taken together, the ministry said these trends reflect continued structural upgrading in the labour market and a shift towards more stable, higher-skilled roles.