All Reports

In this edition of the Singapore Labour Research Digest, published by the NTUC Strategy Team, we explore a research study on the The Pulse of SMEs: Skills Development, Meaningful Work, and Empowerment. The study explores Singapore’s workforce landscape with a focus on SME employees’ career needs, aspirations, and challenges. It identifies where SMEs are facing difficulties or making strides in upskilling, motivating, and retaining talent.

This study examines how Singapore workers are redefining the balance between careers, aspirations, and personal lives, and the implications for underemployment. It aims to uncover the different types of underemployment and identify profiles of workers who are most at risk of being involuntarily underemployed. While time-related underemployment is useful, it is not reflective of the holistic underemployment situation in Singapore. As such, NTUC’s study also explored other indicators of underemployment, like skills-related and education field-related underemployment, to offer a broader and more holistic perspective. Findings reveal Singapore’s patterns in relation to OECD averages and underscore the need for lifelong skill development, flexible work options, and targeted support across career stages.

NTUC's Survey on Economic Sentiments highlights Singapore workers’ top concerns in 2025, including cost of living, job security, retirement adequacy, AI disruption and caregiving pressures.

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are crucial to Singapore's economy, representing 99% of all enterprises and employing 71% of the workforce. The Pulse of SMEs explores Singapore’s workforce landscape with a focus on SME employees’ career needs, aspirations, and challenges. It identifies where SMEs are facing difficulties or making strides in upskilling, motivating, and retaining talent. The study adopts a strengths-based perspective and applies archetypal analysis, segmenting organisations into four archetypes based on company types, employee size, and self-reported perception of their organisational growth.

Human capital is one of the most important resources in Singapore’s strategic economic plan. Accordingly, to drive higher productivity and economic growth, Singapore must support the health, resilience, and well-being of workers. This mixed-methods approach study investigates the well-being of workers in Singapore and seeks to understand the factors affecting worker well-being to provide appropriate support.

Freelancers & Self-Employed (FSE) professionals represent a growing yet underserved and understudied segment of the workforce. This study adopts a holistic, cross-industry approach to surface "Jobs-to-be-Done" (JTBD) to support FSEs in their pursuit of career growth progression. Our findings reveal opportunities for NTUC and the Labour Movement in Singapore to shape services and policies that address shared pain points beyond predefined worker categories.

In this edition of the Singapore Labour Research Digest, we explore how workers with caregiving responsibilities, especially women can be better supported, in sustaining and developing their careers through Flexible Work Arrangements (FWAs).

In this edition of the Singapore Labour Research Digest, published by the NTUC Strategy Team, we explore a research study on the Well-being of Workers in Singapore. This mixed-methods approach study investigates the well-being of workers in Singapore and seeks to understand the factors affecting worker well-being to provide appropriate support.

In this edition of the Singapore Labour Research Digest, published by the NTUC Strategy Team, we explore a research study on Freelancers and Self-Employed Persons (FSEs) in Singapore. FSEs represent a growing yet underserved and understudied segment of the workforce.

The National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) conducted the Survey on Economic Sentiments ahead of Budget 2025 to understand the concerns and aspirations of the local workforce. With responses from 2,088 Singapore residents, the survey provides valuable insights into key areas affecting workers today.