Singapore

Singapore — Participation

SG desk: Singapore first; United States, Australia, United Kingdom, euro area, Korea, Taiwan and New Zealand alongside.

69.67%

+0.47 pp

As of 2025 | % of population ages 15+

Mean
66.38%
Median
66.32%
Min
61.03% 1990
Max
70.69% 2021
YearValue
202569.67%
202469.20%
202369.39%
202269.73%
202170.69%
202068.71%
201968.99%
201868.58%
201768.94%
201669.24%
201569.53%
201468.56%
201367.77%
201267.94%
201167.38%
201067.37%
200966.57%
200866.61%
200765.50%
200666.08%
200565.20%
200464.57%
200364.70%
200264.62%
#CountryParticipationChangeYear
27New Zealand70.35%−0.20 pp202530Singapore69.67%+0.47 pp202550Australia66.54%−0.18 pp2025
68China64.55%−0.36 pp2025
71Korea, Rep.64.35%−0.11 pp2025
80Japan63.45%+0.15 pp2025
92United States61.70%−0.26 pp202595United Kingdom61.37%−0.19 pp2025130Euro area56.97%−0.32 pp2025

What labour force participation is

Labour force participation is the share of people ages 15 and over who are employed or unemployed (SL.TLF.CACT.ZS). It is not the unemployment rate. Latest: 69.67% in 2025.

A falling unemployment rate can coincide with people leaving the labour force. This series is the usual check. From 1990 to 2025 (36 years): mean 66.38%, median 66.32%; low 61.03% (1990), high 70.69% (2021).

Source: World Bank Open Data. Licence: CC BY 4.0 (terms).

Reading this series

This series is the labour-force participation rate for people aged 15 and over: the share who are either employed or unemployed and looking for work. The source is World Bank Open Data indicator SL.TLF.CACT.ZS, an ILO modelled estimate. It measures who is in the labour market, not what they earn, and it is not the same as the employment ratio: unemployed people count in the numerator here but not there.

Participation reflects retirement ages, education, caring responsibilities and social norms as well as job availability, so levels differ for reasons that have little to do with the unemployment rate. The series is modelled from national surveys and censuses and is revised periodically. Use the chart and range buttons to follow one economy and the ranked ledger to compare latest published years. Treat small cross-country gaps with caution, because the estimate carries uncertainty where survey coverage is thin. A fall can mean people left the labour force rather than lost work, so read it with the unemployment rate.

About this desk

The Singapore desk places Singapore first and shows the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, the euro area, China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and New Zealand alongside it, where the source publishes them. The figures are the same World Bank ILO modelled estimates as the all-countries pages, filtered to this desk, with nothing recomputed. Taiwan appears only on the headline unemployment page, filled from the IMF World Economic Outlook because the World Bank does not publish it. This desk is reachable by its address but is not listed in the Country selector, and the page is set to noindex.

Use the Chart and Table tabs for two views of the same data and the range buttons to change the window. Each page names its indicator and licence. A blank cell means the source has no value for that economy and year. No value is estimated beyond what the source publishes.