by MP for Aljunied GRC, Chen Show Mao
Sir,
The further tightening to reduce our economy’s dependence on foreign workers is a necessary step in the right direction. However, I would like to ask the Minister for Manpower to do more by refining the ministry’s current segmentation of industries in coming up with foreign manpower policies, including dependency ratio ceilings (or DRCs).
This does not divert us from our specified goals of reducing our overall foreign manpower dependency and raising productivity. Because given an overall target and roadmap, the idea is to make it possible for foreign manpower policies to be less stringent for some industries than for others, NOT for them to be less stringent than the status quo.
Such refinement will allow the government to gradually implement additional measures in industries where there is greater room for tightening. It will allow more targeted measures to help us more effectively meet our set goals by taking into account the different realities faced by our businesses in the different industries, such as their prospects for further productivity gains and the different ways foreign workers complement Singaporean workers.
The Minister mentioned that “it will be quite inequitable if a large firm that undertakes both the high and low end segments [in the aerospace industry] is entitled to a higher foreign worker quota…, while a small firm that is competing with it at the high end is forced to operate within the more stringent … quota.” But, regrettably, inequity also results when you apply the same requirements to two firms that may be differently situated.
As the Minister pointed out, there are differences between industries and even among companies in the same broad industry. The question is, practically, can something be done to take them into account. Practically, how are the differences between these two firms addressed when, for example, the government works with Singapore companies to set different productivity targets and roadmaps for different industry sectors? It seems to me that we would have a more effective and targeted, and equitable approach, if companies in industries with different characteristics, with different productivity targets and roadmaps, for example, need not all face the same DRC when it comes to their foreign manpower requirements.
Thank you.