6 in 10 high earners in Singapore work for foreign-owned firms

Twenty per cent (20%) of firms in Singapore are foreign-owned.  

Six in 10 Singapore residents earning a gross monthly income above $12,500 are employed by foreign-owned firms, according to the Ministry of Manpower’s (MoM) Labour Market Report Second Quarter 2024.

The majority of firms in Singapore are 80% local-owned, and the remaining 20% are foreign-owned. 

The ministry said that the resident employment growth is expected to moderate given Singapore’s high labour force participation rate and slowing resident workforce growth. 

Singapore’s total employment grew by 11,300 in Q2 2024 from 4,700 in the preceding quarter, attributed to non-resident employment in construction and manufacturing, which rose by 12,000 after its decline in Q1 2024. 

Meanwhile, resident employment dipped by 600 in Q2. 

In the first half of the year, the total employment grew by 16,000, with resident and nonresident employment growing by 4,900 and 11,200, respectively.