also the third largest sector in terms of employment size, providing 90 thousand of jobs (or 22% of the total in manufacturing). Having large employment size but smaller value added share also indicates that in terms of labour productivity it was significantly behind the average productivity in the manufacturing sector in Singapore, with 100.000 SGD value added per worker as compared to the average manufacturing value added per worker of 171.000 SGD. For the performance analysis of the sector, a potential source is the annual economic survey of Singapore, which however provides precision engineering industry breakdowns different than the ones used for policy analysis: i.e. machinery & systems sub-sector and precision modules & components sub-sector. The analysis of recent performance of the sector must also take note of a significant change between 2010 and 2011. Notably, the total output of the sector (and more specifically in the machinery and systems sub-sector) jumped in one year from 14 billion SGD to almost 22 billion SGD as well as the added value jumped from 3.6 billion SGD to 5.4 billion SGD, without corresponding change in employment or remuneration, highly elevating output or productivity figures but without a corresponding change for jobs. This uncertain change complicates any comparisons between the performance figures before and after 2011. Furthermore, there is a substantial cyclical element in the performance of the sector.
Table 20. The performance of precision engineering industry since 2011. Average 20112012
Average 20142015
Growth, %
Total
94,006
92,221
-2%
Machinery & systems
42,563
46,608
10%
Precision modules & components
51,444
45,613
-11%
Total
4,159
4,502
8%
Machinery & systems
2,183
2,570
18%
Precision modules & components
1,977
1,933
-2%
Total
34,352
33,553
-2%
Machinery & systems
22,878
22,999
1%
Precision modules & components
11,474
10,554
-8%
Total
8,286
8,972
8%
Machinery & systems
4,905
5,504
12%
Precision modules & components
3,382
3,469
3%
88
97
10%
115
118
2%
76
16%
Indicator
Employment ('000)
Remuneration (billion SGD)
Total output (billion SGD)
Value added (billion SGD) Value added per worker (thousand SGD)
Sector
Total Machinery & systems
Precision modules & components Source: Economic Survey of Singapore, MTI
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4.2. PE productivity roadmap in 2011 Following the conclusions in 2010 of the Economic Strategies Committee and with the lead of newly established National Productivity and Continuing Education Council (NPCEC) an effort took place to support productivity growth via some horizontal initiatives as well as development of sector-specific productivity development strategies. The aim was to develop up to 17 such sector-specific productivity development strategies (“productivity roadmaps”) between 2010 and 2014, even though by 2015 there was public information about up to 11 such roadmaps. Precision engineering (PE) industry was
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