Singapore (3)

Title of the survey

Annual Census of Industrial Production

Organization responsible

Research and Statistics Unit, Economic Development Board.

Periodicity of the survey

Annual, in February.

Objectives of the survey

To obtain indicators for the study of structure and trends of the manufacturing sector.

Main labour topics covered by the survey

In addition to input, sales, value added, stocks, assets, etc., the main labour topics are employment and compensation of employees.

Reference period

Employment: the pay period nearest to 30 June of the reference year, except where establishments commence operation after June. Compensation of employees (called remuneration): the whole calendar or financial year.

Coverage of the survey

Geographical

The whole country.

Industrial

Manufacturing (including industrial servicing and granite quarrying).

Establishments

Establishments with ten or more workers.

Persons

All persons engaged.

Occupations

Not relevant.

Concepts and definitions

Employment

Data refer to all persons engaged in the establishment, including employees and self-employed. They are collected separately for (i) local workers (i.e. Singapore citizens and permanent residents) and (ii) foreign workers (those with work permits, employment passes and other passes).

Compensation of employees

Defined in terms of total remuneration paid by the employer to all persons engaged in the establishment during the reporting year, and includes the following components which are separately identified:

Gross wages and salaries, i.e. the total emoluments due to employees before deductions of employees' contributions to the Central Provident Fund (CPF) and Pension Fund or any other such deduction payable by employees; included are commissions, bonuses, overtime and cost-of-living allowances;
CPF/Pension contributions: contributions by employers to the Central Provident Fund, pension or other funds;
Other benefits: medical benefits, free and subsidized food and other payments in kind which are valued at cost to the establishment;
Directors' fees for attending board meetings;
Insurance premium on labour.

Other elements of labour cost, namely the cost of vocational training, welfare services, taxes regarded as labour cost (such as foreign workers levy), transport of workers, cost of work clothes, retrenchment benefits, etc. are excluded from the concept of total remuneration.

Hours of work

Not relevant.

International recommendations

The concept of total remuneration used in this industrial census is in line with the guidelines contained in the System of National Accounts (SNA), 1968 concerning compensation of employees.

Classifications

Components of labour cost / compensation of employees

Data on compensation of employees are classified by main components (wages and salaries, including allowances, employers' contributions and other benefits).

Industrial

Data are classified according to major divisions 2 (quarrying) and 3 (manufacturing) of the Singapore Standard Industrial Classification (SSIC), 1990, which is adapted from the International Standard Industrial Classification of all economic activities (ISIC), Rev. 2, 1968. Data are coded at the five-digit level of the SSIC.

Occupational

Not relevant.

Others

Data on employment and compensation of employees are classified by category of workers (local and foreign workers).

Sample size and design

Statistical unit

The statistical unit is the establishment, defined as a unit engaged in manufacturing, generally at one location.

Survey universe / sample frame

Consists of the Establishments Hub maintained by the Department of Computer Information Services (MTI), which covers all manufacturing establishments with ten or more workers. The frame is updated annually.

Sample design

The survey is a complete census of all manufacturing establishments with ten or more workers.

Field work

Data collection

Takes place from February to September each year. Data are collected by mailed questionnaires and clarifications are made through telephone, by officers-in-charge who are members of a permanent survey team.

Survey questionnaire

This consists of 21 sets of questions relating to the characteristics of the establishment, capital funds and reserves, fixed assets, inputs, sales, value added, stocks, etc. Employment and Remuneration constitutes one set of questions. Explanatory notes on the definitions of local and foreign workers and on the components of remuneration are part of the questionnaire. Data are collected on:

the total number of persons engaged, by category (local local or foreign workers),
total remuneration paid during the reporting period, by category and separately for:
- wages and salaries including allowances,
- CPF/pension contributions paid by employers,
- other benefits.
total amount of foreign workers' levy,
total amount of directors' fees.

Substitution of sampling units

Not relevant.

Data processing and editing

Scrutiny and data entry are carried out by office staff who uses a computer system specially designed for the census. Queries and clarifications are conducted by telephone, interviews or correspondence. Amended data are then rekeyed into the computer system.

Types of estimates

Totals of workers by industry, and
Totals and averages of compensation of employees by industry.

Construction of indices

None.

Weighting of sample results

Not relevant.

Adjustments

Non-response

Employment and compensation of employees data of non-response cases are extracted from the Monthly Industrial Production Survey, if the units are covered in the sample. Otherwise, the data are estimated, based on the previous year's data, using an adjustment factor for CPF rates.

Other bias

Not applicable.

Use of benchmark data

Not relevant.

Use of other surveys

Not relevant.

Indicators of reliability of the estimates

Coverage of the sampling frame

Coverage is virtually complete.

Sampling error / sampling variance

Not relevant.

Non-response rate

Negligible. Failure to submit the completed forms within the prescribed time is an offence and renders the establishment liable for penalties under sections 9 and 10 of the Statistics Act.

Non-sampling errors

Not relevant.

Conformity with other sources

Not relevant.

Estimates for non-survey years

Not relevant.

Available series

Annual series of numbers of workers and remuneration (compensation of employees), by industry major group, at the three-digit level.

History of the survey

The Census of manufacturing establishments was first introduced in 1959. Since then, it has been conducted on a regular basis each year, without any major changes. The questionnaire design on Employment and Remuneration by employment categories was revised with effect from the 1991 Census. It was then simplified: employment and compensation of employees data, which used to be collected by detailed category (local workmen and other workers, full and part-time workers, foreign workmen and others, etc. and by sex) are now collected by local and foreign workers only.

Documentation

Economic Development Board, Research and Statistics Unit: Report on the Census of Industrial Production (annual, Singapore); published about 14 months after the reference year.

Confidentiality / Reliability criteria

The survey is conducted under the Statistics Act (Chapter 317), Revised Edition 1991. The information provided by establishments is strictly confidential and used for statistical purposes only. No particulars or information relating to any establishment is published or released to the public.

Other information

Data supplied to the ILO for publication

Statistics of average employment (all persons engaged) in manufacturing are published in tables 5A and 5B of the Yearbook of Labour Statistics, and statistics of average compensation of employees in manufacturing, per employee and per year, are shown in tables 22A and 22B.