PATTERNS OF INDUSTRIAL EMPLOYMENT WITHIN PUBLIC HOUSING ESTATES

Abstract

The Housing and Development Board, since its inception in 1960, has launched a number of massive housing programmes on the basis of the neighbourhood principle. To-date, it housed approximately 40 per cent of the population of Singapore. Various industrial estates have also been developed in close proximity to the housing estates, accommodating several light, labour-intensive and pollution-free industries. In the light of such activities of the Board, large employment opportunities have been created for the population in the nearby housing estates. Thus, the main objective of this study is to examine the present and prospective demand for and supply of labour in the HIDB industrial estates and their implications on the labour market. From the Employment Survey 1972, we are able to obtain statistics on demand for industrial workers in the public housing estates in 1975. The supply of labour will also be forecasted to 1975 on the basis of the Sample Household Survey 1973. A comparative analysis of these two major determinants of the labour market will be attempted to denote specific areas of shortage or surplus of labour and show the extent of labour imbalance. Attention will be focussed on the particular needs of individual IIDB industrial estates. It is hoped that this study will provide some useful bench-mark data for the planning of future industrial estates.