Summary:

Manufacturing is a major component of the Singapore economy, contributing approximately 20% of real GDP and 13% of employment. The industry has proven to be one of the most robust sectors of the economy in response to Singapore’s COVID-19 “circuit breaker” policy. In this week’s ‘Chart of the Week’, we analyse the resiliency of Singapore’s manufacturing sector considering historical growth, employment, and investment data provided by the Singapore Department of Statistics.

Highlights:

• Manufacturing employment has been shrinking, even during periods of high output growth.
• The trends in Y-o-Y Manufacturing Output Growth tracks closely with the level of Manufacturing Investment Commitments. As Investment Commitments refer to fixed asset investments, we can posit that there has been an ongoing expansion in the production capacity of Manufacturing in Singapore.
• During the early COVID-19 period of 2020 1Q, a sharp spike in both output and investment is observed. This indicates the long-term outlook that firms in Singapore have.

Article By TAN Kway Guan

Graphic By Shu En LEE