SINGAPORE: The Government’s approach to implementing Singapore’s foreign worker policy is focused on whether it will benefit Singaporeans, said Manpower Minister Tan See Leng in Parliament on Tuesday (Jul 6). In response to a series of parliamentary questions from numerous Members of Parliament, he was addressing the problems and trade-offs of Singapore’s foreign worker policies.
The Progress Singapore Party’s (PSP) non-constituency MPs Leong Mun Wai and Hazel Poa had requested information on the number of foreign nationals and their dependents from countries with which Singapore has free trade agreements (FTAs).
Under the India-Singapore Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement, Associate Professor Jamus Lim (WP-Sengkang) asked a similar query on the number of visas granted to intra-corporate transferees (ICT) and professionals (CECA).
ICTs are multinational company personnel that have been transferred from overseas offices after working for the company for at least a year.
Dr. Tan stated that none of Singapore’s FTAs grant ICTs “unrestricted access” to the country’s labor market, and that they must all meet the Ministry of Manpower’s work permit conditions (MOM).
“In addition to their seniority, career history, and work experience, ICTs are subjected to further checks.” “Whether they wish to seek for permanent residency or future employment in Singapore, they are also subject to further constraints in terms of their eligibility to bring in dependants,” he said. “VERY SMALL” NUMBER OF WORKERS ENTERING THROUGH FTAS In 2020, Singapore will have 177,000 Employment Pass holders. According to Dr. Tan, there were approximately 4,200 ICTs among them, with approximately 500 from India. “Indian nationals entering through CECA have become a source of conflict for the PSP. “However, I fear they were barking up the wrong tree,” he continued.
“In comparison to our total number of EPs, the amount of ICTs coming in via our FTAs, particularly CECA, is relatively modest.” I propose that we toss this red herring aside and get to the heart of the matter.” Mr Leong has questioned the government’s foreign worker policies and whether CECA allows Indian workers to take Singaporeans’ jobs since becoming an NCMP. Mr Leong was requested to submit a resolution to debate the topic in Parliament by Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam in May. Before deciding on a good time to file a motion, Mr Leong said in a Facebook post on June 22 that the PSP will “request further information from the Government at the legislative sitting in July in preparation for the approaching debate.” “The Progress Singapore Party (PSP) believes that the time has come to counterbalance the interests of Singaporeans in the labor market with foreign PMETs (defined as all work pass holders),” he wrote on June 22. WHY HAS THE PROPORTION OF INDIA WORKERS INCREASED? PSP inquired about the profile of Singapore’s work pass holders and their dependents, who are from China, India, the United States, and Australia, as well as the employment they hold. Dr. Tan stated that such information are not made public for foreign policy considerations, but that he will provide select figures to “correct misconceptions” and allow for constructive debate. Since 2005, the top nationalities that account for around two-thirds of EP holders have been consistent: China, India, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, and the United Kingdom. The proportion of Indian EP holders has climbed from around 13% in 2005, when CECA was signed, to 26% in 2020. The growth is attributable to worldwide demand and availability of tech skills, not to more favorable treatment for Indian EP holders as a result of CECA, as Dr Tan highlighted. “Over the last decade or so, China and India have been two of the major providers of tech talent. “However, as you may have read, China has spawned so many unicorns, and PRC enterprises themselves have a tremendous demand of their own, so many Chinese talent choose to stay in China to work,” Dr. Tan explained. “On the other hand, India’s talent has continued to gaze outwards. They also have the advantage of speaking English. This is not a Singaporean phenomena. It’s a worldwide phenomenon.” “ANXIETY, SOCIAL FRICTIONS” An increase in the number of these workers could “create some social frictions and concern among Singaporeans,” according to Dr. Tan. When a single ethnicity becomes more prominent, he says, it might have a “disproportionate impact” on Singapore’s existing culture or make Singaporeans feel less at ease in their workplaces or neighborhoods. “We need to bring in the talent and skills to keep our economy expanding, while also ensuring that the number of foreigners in our midst remains at a level that we can handle, and managing the social frictions that will inevitably occur.” MOM flags businesses with a high concentration of a particular nationality and adds them to the Fair Consideration Framework watchlist, after which the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Procedures (TAFEP) contacts them to review their employment practices, according to Dr Tan. MOM will be looking to supplement and improve the Fair Consideration Framework watchlist, as well as “exploring changes” to the EP framework, he said. “This is the crux of the situation,” Dr. Tan added. How do we, as a small country with no natural resources, remain accessible to global talent so that we may continue to provide possibilities for Singaporeans while also controlling the societal consequences?” Singaporeans are concerned about three things, he said. First, the increase in EP holders has come at the price of local PMEs; second, some workplaces have become more concentrated with a single nationality; and third, local job searchers and employees may face prejudice. In response to overseas PME competition, Dr Tan stated that Singapore has one of the world’s top talent pools, but it is insufficient to meet the needs of all the investments here. SINGAPOREANS HAVE HAD MORE JOBS CREATED THAN FOREIGNERS: TAN, DR. Dr Tan provided more information on the number of EPs issued by sector in answer to questions from Ms Poa, Assoc Prof Lim, and Mr Saktiandi Supaat (PAP-Bishan-Toa Payoh). EPs are awarded to foreign professionals, managers, and executives with a monthly salary of at least S$4,500. Manufacturing and construction will account for nearly a tenth of EP holders in 2020. The others are employed in the service industry. Infocomm and Professional Services each make for about one-fifth (19%) of the top three sub-sectors, while the financial industry accounts for another 15%. The overall number of EPs has increased by roughly 112,000 from 2005 to 2020. However, throughout the same time period, the number of local PMEs increased by more than 380,000, according to Dr Tan. “It has been questioned, both inside and outside this House, whether Singapore nationals accounted for the majority of the growth in local PME positions. If you look at our unemployment data, you’ll notice that we include the amount for Singaporeans. “The citizen unemployment rate has been consistently low at roughly 3% for the past ten years, so the answer must be yes,” Dr Tan added. “For those who have asked how much of this local PME job growth has gone to ‘born and bred’ Singaporeans, let me just clarify that the majority of this increase over the previous decade went to Singaporeans born in Singapore, notwithstanding the divisive nature of this kind of questioning.” Dr. Tan emphasized the importance of the banking and information technology sectors, which accounted for 40% of the growth in EPs. “But what’s more important,” he said, “is that these two industries witnessed much stronger job creation for local PMEs.” In the infocomm sector, the number of EPs climbed by roughly 25,000, but 35,000 jobs were created for local PMEs. In finance, the number of EPs climbed by roughly 20,000, but this is dwarfed by the 85,000 employment generated by local PMEs. “We chose these two industries because they provide good-paying jobs, and Singapore… has a considerable competitive edge and value-add in these areas.” As a result, a lot of jobs have been created,” Dr. Tan stated. “As we encourage multinational banks and information technology companies to set up shop in Singapore, they will obviously want foreign workers to supplement the local workforce.” He went on to say that it’s a “misconception” to believe that if foreign workers depart, the jobs they’d previously had will all be filled by Singaporeans. “How do I know this is a misunderstanding?” Because there are still roughly 22,000 PME jobs that are unfilled as we speak. Companies are keen to fill these positions; if possible, they would prefer to hire Singaporeans because they are more productive. “However, these positions have yet to be filled. “Perhaps Mr Leong would like to think about it, deliberate, and give us some advice,” Dr Tan speculated. “CONSTANT TIGHTROPE”According to Dr. Tan, if enterprises investing in Singapore can only hire Singaporeans, they will not set up shop here. He stated that the remedy for displaced Singaporeans is to find jobs for them rather than reducing the number of foreign employees. Work pass rules are also in place in Singapore to ensure that foreign workers “supplement rather than supplant the local workforce,” he said. “Workers will always call for us to tighten our foreign workforce restrictions even more, just as businesses will always push for us to loosen them… MOM and MTI (Ministry of Trade and Industry) have to walk a fine line in highly competitive global marketplaces for both investments and people,” said Dr Tan. “There are bounds to how tight we can tighten our restrictions without endangering Singaporeans.” Companies are increasingly not need to locate their manpower in Singapore as remote working becomes more common.” Dr Tan responded to Ms Poa’s query about the number of foreign dependents in Singapore by saying that the vast majority of them are Singaporeans./n
