THE Government has made public data to show that Singaporeans are benefiting from the employment boom, contrary to the belief of a few MPs and Internet chatter.

They show that citizens landed a record number of the new jobs created in recent years.

More importantly, the vast majority of the jobs they got went to professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs).

And most of these jobs pay a salary above the median income of $2,330 a month.

These are the findings of two new reports released by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) yesterday, on the situation over the past decade.

Their publication comes amid heated debates on Internet forums, in coffee shops and among MPs such as Nominated MP Siew Kum Hong.

They questioned whether Singaporeans are gaining from the booming economy, which created a record 236,600 jobs last year.

On Tuesday, Mr Siew argued in Parliament that the rising proportion of foreigners in the workforce has likely resulted in a higher share of wages going to them.

Official figures show six in 10 of the new jobs last year went to foreigners, up from five in 10 in 2006.

But this has more to do with insufficient Singaporeans being available to fill the rising number of new vacancies, according to the report giving a breakdown of jobs held by citizens, permanent residents (PRs) and foreigners.

The breakdown, published for the first time, shows all three groups gained from the job boom.

In 2006, the number of Singaporeans who found jobs soared to an all-time high of 64,600.

But with employment at record highs, their share of new jobs fell from 45 per cent in 2004 to 37 per cent in 2006.

More PRs are also working here, with the numbers rising by 8.4 per cent between 1997 and 2006. This growth is the fastest among the three groups of workers.

However, when Singapore suffered a slowdown between 2001 and 2003, foreigners bore the brunt of job losses.

The second study lists the types of jobs Singaporeans filled in the 10-year period.

It shows 95 per cent of new jobs they took up were for PMET positions.

The upsurge resulted in 45.2 per cent of Singaporeans holding PMET jobs last year, up from 39 per cent a decade ago.

On the other hand, the share of Singaporeans holding lower-paid jobs, such as production, clerical, sales and service, had dropped.

The report did not give data on the types of jobs foreigners hold.

But latest MOM figures show most of them are work permit holders doing low-level jobs, like construction workers. They make up 646,000 of the 756,000 foreigners working here.

Labour economists like Assistant Professor Park Cheolsung agree with the reports' general arguments, but noted that they do not give a comprehensive picture of Singaporeans' job prospects.

Prof Park, from the National University of Singapore, believes Singaporeans who land the highly paid jobs may already be well qualified, and not because employers are picking them over similarly qualified foreigners.

He said more studies must be conducted to compare the jobs that Singaporeans and such foreigners hold, before any conclusions can be drawn on the employment quality of citizens.

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