Gender pay gap in Singapore (June 2025)

The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) publishes the median income of resident women and men working full-time each year. The latest figures are for June 2025 and were released on 29 January 2026.

Gender pay gap at a glance

• S$6,000 a month for men among full-time employed residents, median gross income including employer CPF, June 2025.
• S$5,460 a month for women among full-time employed residents, S$540 less than men.
• 9.0% gap between the two medians in 2025, a Foundific calculation from MOM's figures.
• 14.3% unadjusted gap in MOM's own measure for full-time resident employees aged 25 to 54, 2023.
• 6.0% adjusted gap in 2023, after MOM accounted for age, education, occupation, industry and hours worked.

How large is the gender pay gap in Singapore?

Resident women working full-time had a median income 9.0% below men's in June 2025. The gap was 9.1% in 2015 and 10.0% in 2024.

The figures are gross monthly income from work, including employer CPF, in June of each year. The gap is our calculation: one minus women's median divided by men's.

• Excluding employer CPF, the medians were S$5,250 for men and S$4,776 for women in 2025, also a 9.0% gap.
• Women's median rose by 45.8% from 2015 to 2025, and men's by 45.7%.
• MOM's own measure covers a narrower group. In 2018 and 2023, it gave 16.3% and 14.3%, against 12.5% and 7.1% for all full-time employed residents. It is set out below.

The gap since 2015

Both medians come from a sample survey, so year-to-year changes in the gap should be read with caution. MOM advises reading income changes over 5 or 10 years.

Pay gap by age

The gap was widest for workers aged 50 to 59, at 19.3% in 2025. Women under 30 had a higher median than men under 30.

• Women under 30 had a median S$296 above men under 30 in 2025.
• The gap in money terms was largest at ages 40 to 49, at S$1,529 a month.
• At ages 50 to 59 it was S$1,263.
• The gap narrowed from 2015 to 2025 in every age group from 30 upwards, except 50 to 59.

Medians by age are from MOM table mrsd_75, including employer CPF. Gaps are Foundific calculations.

Pay gap by occupation

Among PMETs, women's median was 14.8% below men's in 2025. PMET stands for professionals, managers, executives and technicians.

Each group covers many jobs. MOM's 2020 paper found that comparing men and women in the same broad occupation group lowered the 2018 gap from 12.5% to 9.7%.

• The PMET gap was S$1,219 a month.
• The PMET gap is larger than the gap in each of its three parts.
• Clerical support was the only group shown where women's median was above men's.

Source: MOM, table mrsd_37, including employer CPF. Gaps are Foundific calculations. Pay for single jobs is in the salary guides by occupation.

MOM's unadjusted and adjusted gender pay gap

MOM's adjusted gender pay gap was 6.0% in 2023, against an unadjusted gap of 14.3%. MOM's 2020 paper and 2024 update give the adjusted gap for 2002, 2018 and 2023.

For its 2024 update MOM revised the model to use the SSOC 2020 occupation codes. On that model the 2018 adjusted gap is 6.7%, so the fall to 2023 was 0.7 percentage points.

• The unadjusted gap fell by 2.0 percentage points from 2018 to 2023.
• In its 2020 paper MOM compared the 2018 adjusted gap with studies for the United States (8.0%) and Canada (7.7% to 8.3%).
• MOM's 2020 paper put the 2018 gap for all full-time employed residents at 12.5%, the same as our calculation.

How MOM breaks down the gap

MOM splits the 14.3% unadjusted gap of 2023 into parts linked to measured differences between men and women.

• Labour market factors (occupation, industry and hours) together accounted for 8.1 points.
• In MOM's 2020 paper, on the earlier model, occupation accounted for 7.0 points of the 2018 gap and age and education for 1.9 points.
• MOM said the gap narrowed from 2018 to 2023 as the occupational profile of women improved more than that of men.

MOM's infographic shows the occupational profile of full-time resident employees aged 25 to 54, as a share of each sex.

MOM's 2020 paper says the remaining gap may reflect factors the model could not measure. It names type of firm, position within the firm, work experience, caregiving responsibilities, parenthood and labour market discrimination.

How the gap is measured

Both measures compare medians, the income of the person in the middle when incomes are ranked.

• The unadjusted gap is one minus women's median divided by men's median, in per cent.
• The adjusted gap compares men and women with the same age, education, occupation, industry and usual hours worked.
• MOM estimates it with an Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition. The part of the gap these factors do not explain is the adjusted gap.
• MOM's study covers full-time resident employees aged 25 to 54, to compare people with similar attachment to work.
• The yearly MOM tables on this page cover all full-time employed residents aged 15 and over, including the self-employed, so their gap differs from MOM's.

The yearly figures come from the Comprehensive Labour Force Survey.

• Residents are Singapore Citizens and permanent residents. Full-time National Servicemen are excluded.
• Full-time work means at least 35 normal hours a week.
• Gross monthly income includes basic pay, overtime, commissions, allowances and one-twelfth of annual bonuses, before employee CPF and tax.
• The 2025 sample was 33,000 dwelling units. The reference month is June.

Release calendar

• Labour Force in Singapore 2026 is provisionally scheduled for 25 to 29 January 2027. The 2025 edition carried incomes by sex.
• MOM's release calendar does not list an update of the adjusted gap.

Questions

Compare your own pay

To see where a salary sits for your job and age, use the salary comparison. Pay growth for all workers is on the wage growth page.

Related guides

Sources