census

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SINGAPORE: The government will release more data on Singapore to the public for personal and business use. The Ministry of Manpower will be launching a new website for employers to tap into data on the local labour market. The service, which will be free, will allow employers benchmark their firm's performance against industry norms on wages, employment conditions and staff turnover. Another service, PopulationQuery, will give the public free access to demographic data. It is a feature built into the existing OneMap platform which can help people make decisions on buying property based on an area's attributes, for example. Data is currently available for the years 2000, 2010, 2011 and 2012. PopulationQuery will be progressively updated with more census data to show demographic figures by residential or commercial areas. As Singaporeans become more educated and tech-savvy, government websites are evolving in tandem; there are currently more than 8,600 publicly-available datasets from more than 60 agencies available online. Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said: "Our agencies are also actively venturing into serving customers through the mobile and social media spaces. There are currently more than 100 mobile government services available, compared to just about 40 two years ago. In addition, many agencies are now using Facebook and Twitter to seek feedback and obtain ideas from the public." Peter Ong, Head of the Civil Service, said: "We need to recognise that the government does not hold all the answers, whether it is in service delivery or in policy-design. Sometimes the most effective and expedient way to solve a problem is to consult and crowd-source for ideas and solutions." www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/govt-to-release-more-s/712560.html