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Discouraged Workers Introduction
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Introduction 

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KEY INSIGHTS

1. Discouraged Workers are individuals who are not in the labour force because they believe their job search would not yield results.​

2. As discouraged workers are not looking for a job, they are not unemployed, but are instead classified as persons outside the labour force (also known as the economically inactive).​​

When the prevailing outlook in the economy is gloomy and there is shortage of jobs, the incidence of discouraged workers tends to increase. Conversely, the incidence tends to decline, if there are abundant job opportunities available.

Collected from the mid-year Comprehensive Labour Force Survey, data on Discouraged Workers can be found in the annual report on Labour Force in Singapore.

See also Persons Outside the Labour Force. 
 
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