Tan Chuan-Jin: Current foreign workforce measures to be "maintained"

Singapore is not considering any major changes to the current measures in place to tighten and control the number of foreign workers in the country, as the efforts made to date are "starting to bear fruit".

In a written statement in Parliament yesterday, Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin answered questions around whether the Ministry would consider adopting a flexible approach to the application of the foreign worker dependency ratio ceiling, especially for industries struggling to attract Singaporeans.

Tan said although the government would "not rule out" further flexibility where warranted, he stressed the emphasis must be on employers to upgrade the skills of their employees, rather than just hiring more people.

"We know that there are industries facing difficulty in attracting Singaporeans," he said. "Sector-specific needs have already been catered for through the different Dependency Ratio Ceilings for the five sectors – Services, Manufacturing, Construction, Marine and Process.

"In general, we have applied a consistent set of rules across each sector, so that we allow firms that are more manpower-efficient and those that are better able to attract Singaporeans to grow. However, we do provide flexibility in industries where there is an essential economic or social need, such as healthcare and landscaping.

"Such flexibility cannot be accorded simply to industries that claim they cannot find Singaporeans, because that will entrench reliance on labour-intensive business models, and reduce the need for businesses to re-design their jobs to be more attractive to Singaporeans."

He pointed out the Ministry's three key objectives - to moderate foreign workforce growth, sustain real income growth for Singaporeans and shift towards productivity-driven growth - are beginning to show progress.

"Our efforts are starting to bear fruit. The overall foreign workforce growth in 1H 2014 was the lowest since 2009. Incomes of Singaporeans have also risen more in 2013 compared to previous years, especially for our low wage workers," he said.

"Accordingly, MOM has also calibrated our foreign manpower policy stance. We did not announce new tightening measures this year, except for some focused on the construction sector. However, this does not mean liberalising FW controls either."

He added there is scope to boost productivity across all sectors of the economy, pointing out there was a net increase of around 14,000 companies per year over the last five years, which suggests strong manpower demand.

"So we intend to maintain our current FW policy stance – neither liberalising nor having new measures to tighten foreign worker numbers further – to motivate adoption of manpower-lean business models, and improve job outcomes for Singaporeans."

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