SINGAPORE — Complaints about workplace discrimination fell more than 65 per cent from 2015 to 2018 and more than eight in 10 job seekers here say they do not feel discriminated against, Parliament was told on Monday (Feb 3).

Mr Zaqy Mohamad, Minister of State for Manpower, told Parliament that the number of complaints that the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) received over workplace discrimination has plummetted from 580 cases in 2015 to about 200 in 2018.

The figures were revealed in response to a parliamentary question by Mr Leon Perera, Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (MP) from the Workers’ Party, who had asked if the Government had conducted a survey seeking the views of employees on perceptions of discriminatory hiring and other human resource practices.

In his reply, Mr Zaqy said that a 2018 survey on fair employment practices commissioned by MOM found that more than 80 per cent of jobseekers did not feel that their gender, marital status, number of children, race, religion or nationality was an impediment when finding work.

“The majority of employees also felt that they were fairly treated in their organisation, in terms of their employment terms and benefits, training, career development, and performance evaluation,” he said.

He added that MOM and the Tripartite Alliance on Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (Tafep) will follow up on feedback and complaints about workplace discrimination. “This is complemented by Tafep’s efforts to promote and advise employers on fair employment practices.” 

Mr Zaqy said that instead of depending on perception surveys, a good indicator for evidence of workplace discrimination would be the number of related complaints that MOM receives.

He disclosed that the 200 complaints of workplace discrimination received in 2018 constitutes less than 1 per cent of all complaints received by the ministry.

“Discriminatory job advertisements have become rare,” he said. “Employment outcomes of groups such as women and older workers have also improved over the past decade.”

The employment rate of older residents aged 55 to 64 increased from 57 per cent in 2009 to 68 per cent last year, he added.

Within this same 10-year period, the employment rate for female residents aged 25 to 64 increased from 64 per cent to 73 per cent.

The adjusted gender pay gap has narrowed over time as well, down from 8.8 per cent in 2002 to 6.3 per cent in 2018.

In his supplementary question to Mr Zaqy, Mr Perera asked for more details about the survey, including a breakdown of the less than 20 per cent of MOM’s survey respondents who faced discriminatory practices.

Mr Zaqy said that he was unable to provide the details at the time because the initial question had been about whether any government surveys had been conducted or not.

However, he said MOM recognises that there will be a minority of employers who “deliberately circumvent employment principles and requirements”.

He also said that the 2018 survey, which covered about 3,100 individuals and 3,400 establishments, provide a credible gauge of ground sentiment. “We do this regularly just to get a strong sensing.” 

While he did not give a specific date, Mr Zaqy said that the ministry will publish an occasional paper on fair employment in the later part of this year.