Firms Struggle To Hire Local Workers!!

last SG · 2006-08-02T00:27:51+00:00

I remember reading in another thread, there is another reason why many locals are unwilling to take up these low paying jobs. No offence but retail jobs that...

oxford mushroom SG

It's a correct balancing act: increase the levy to encourage bosses to employ local workers. But if locals demand far too much in wages for their level of productivity, it may be more economical for businesses to employ foreigners. In that case, we must not stifle the competitiveness of such businesses.

This new policy will help local workers who are just marginally less cost-effective when compared to their foreign counterparts. The increase in levy may be enough to make it worthwhile to employ locals. But again if foreigners can do the job just as well for half the salary, we should not practise protectionism at the risk of losing competitiveness.

kilua SG

Captialism is indeed harsh. It wants the workers to work long hours like the Singapore maids yet pay them as low as possible, yet demand them to procreate lots of babies with this unbalanced type of lifestyle.

I hope i dont hear you complaining about the lack of babies in Singapore.

Maybe we will have another marxist type of rebellion in future against capitalism for its exploitation of workers...

SilverPal SG

Its not massive greed that make locals demand higher pay, well, not most of the time anyway.

Imagine a job that pays $2k SGD. A local can only take home $1.6k before taxes while a foreigner takes home $2k before taxes. Bearing in mind foreigners have no family comittment in sg, they can squeeze in to one 3 room flat with 6 other foreigners for the next 2-3 years.

What about locals? Assuming you have no friends, all your family members have died (saving you money on christmas and birthday presents), how long can you squeeze into a 3 room flat with 6 other people? 3 years? 6 years? Until retirement? Will there be a light at the end of the tunnel?

Our only hope to to become a quitter and steal jobs from others who are more expensive than us, such as those who really are in the first world.

ShutterBug SG

I agree that Singapore, while lacking in any natural resources need to remain competitive with the rest of the world by not practicing protectionism, but wouldn't prospering by neglecting the people (the only natural resource of Singapore) be akin to setting up a time-bomb to deal with later?

Foreigners are being treated like citizens, and citizens being treated like outsiders? Call it capitalism and all that jazz, but ultimately, consequences of neglecting Singaporeans will be an issue in later years to come.

And, what sense of BELONGING does our government hope to instill in the people of Singapore in this way???

We belong to this country alright, but most certainly don't belong to the Rat Race they started, or have simply been shouldered out of their so called Rat Race by sheer FAVORTISM.

I can only see two areas to address, and badly needs addressing;
1) Reduction of Living Costs, or
2) Provide Singaporeans 'fair means' of making a living

If either of the above two options is proactively addressed by our gov, they will remain in power longer.

Otherwise, I can only see their inevitable end...

No sign of formidable oppositions, does not mean NO oppositions at all.

oxford mushroom SG

Fertility drops in every developed nation. It's not surprising at all now that we have moved into a knowledge-based rather than a labour-intensive economy.

Marxism does not work. Even communist nations like China and Vietnam are embracing capitalism. The Chinese are turning out to be better capitalists than the west, learning both the merits and faults of capitalism.

oxford mushroom SG

In the example you raised, presume you are saying locals take home less because of CPF. Your CPF money goes to pay for your HDB flat, your medical insurance and your retirement. It's still your money...if it is not mandatory, Singaporeans won't save for their own retirement.

Many foreigners are taking on lowly paid jobs and earn far less than 2k a month. How much do you pay your maids? Smile

If we want a higher quality of life than our foreign competitors, we must be more productive than they are. Steal jobs from others who are more expensive? Of course, that's the way to go in our globalised economy. If you can offer your skills at a lower price and yet perform as well as your foreign counterparts, you get the job. If they can do better than you at a lower price, you lose yours. If the government tries to protect your job by not allowing foreign workers in, your boss will just move his business overseas. Then Singapore will lose twice: once because you lose your job and twice because the government loses their taxes from the company.

dragg SG

more jobs were created in the 2nd quarter, 36500!!!

but unemployment rose to 2.9%. this is because more people, especially those with tertiary education entered the job market.

SilverPal SG

I neglected to realise the different uses of the CPF, thanks for informing me.

I never had a maid before so I wouldn't know how much a maid is paid. Assume its $1k SGD.

A foreigner can bring back to phillipines (According to converter slightly less than $34,022.472 Pesos per month. Assume that in the end they only bring back $10k Pesos per month, at the end of 1 year, they will have $120k Pesos.

I do not claim to know the economy of phillipines but its does seem that they have a greater spending power in phillipines than in sg don't you think?

If I chose to become a maid, I would earn $1k SGD per month. minus CPF I will take home $800 SGD per month. At the end of the year I will have $9.6k SGD (assuming no expenditure) with $2.4k SGD in CPF. Assume I work as a maid for 2 years, I would have $4.8k SGD in CPF. Would I be able to buy a flat or car with that amount of money? What else can I do with that money? Invest? If I was good at investing, would I be a maid?

Now the question: Since the fillipino maid can take home $10k Pesos by the end of the first year, how long would I need to work as a maid to have the same spending power (in sg since I have no money to migrate) as the fillipino (spending in phillipines)?

I did not factor in taxes in since I assume that any tax would affect both local and foreigners alike.

oxford mushroom SG

Your filipino maid is not able to buy a flat or car in Singapore as well. The fact is, if you work as a maid, you are competing at the same level as your maid. You earn the same sort of salary and you can only expect to have to the same quality of life, ie. $10k pesos in the Phillippines. You can withdraw your CPF if you renounce your citizenship and emigrate there....and you will enjoy the same benefits as your maid.

The fact is, if we choose to live in a first world country like Singapore and enjoy the quality of life in a first world nation, we must be able to compete at a higher level than your maid. And btw, a car is a luxury and damages the environment. You can get by more easily in Singapore without a car...use public transport.

SilverPal SG

Very true. Assuming that I take the CPF factor out of the equation so that I am competing at the same level as my maid. That fact remains that, we do not choose which country to live in, we are citizens of our respective countries, like it or not.

With full knowledge of her return to phillippines, and her ability to return there to her friends and family, she can take up such low paying jobs in sg. But with the knowledge that its going to cost me a bomb (since I'm earning so low wages) to migrate to a country whose language and culture is foreign to me, and I might have to remain in sg to live the rest of my life, then suddenly we come to realise that my spending power is significantly less that hers.

Its like how the Indians and PRCs here are able to undercut local workers as they know they can convert their savings to their local currency in their own countries and their spending power back home might be more that their employers spending power in sg.

Hence many singaporeans, with knowledge that they MIGHT not be able to migrate, due to whatever reasons, would have to take the highest possible paying job they can get. Any job that does not give them the means to support themselves and maybe 1 or 2 dependents cannot possibly in good sense be considered.

Hence, (most) poorer singaporeans cannot be said to be choosy or picky about their jobs but rather pragmatic. Even when using public transport.

Of course I cannot use myself as an example for this discussion as I represent the typical entry level office worker.

oxford mushroom SG

Originally posted by SilverPal:
[b]Hence many singaporeans, with knowledge that they MIGHT not be able to migrate, due to whatever reasons, would have to take the highest possible paying job they can get. Any job that does not give them the means to support themselves and maybe 1 or 2 dependents cannot possibly in good sense be considered.

Hence, (most) poorer singaporeans cannot be said to be choosy or picky about their jobs but rather pragmatic. Even when using public transport.
b]

Singaporeans can emigrate to Malaysia, Indonesia or even China where the costs are lower and their life savings (after selling that HDB flat) will go pretty far. As reported in Zaobao, graduates from Sichuan University are taking on jobs as nannies in Beijing for S$300 a month. Your dollars will go further there.

I note that the Minister of Health is also considering this option when he suggested building retirement homes in Batam etc. That is a possible and logical option.

oxford mushroom SG

Hence many singaporeans, with knowledge that they MIGHT not be able to migrate, due to whatever reasons, would have to take the highest possible paying job they can get. Any job that does not give them the means to support themselves and maybe 1 or 2 dependents cannot possibly in good sense be considered.

As we should too Smile The point I want to make is that Singaporeans cannot blame the bosses for hiring foreigners if foreign workers can do the same job for less. Bosses also want to earn as much as they can.

We must do what the foreigners cannot at every level in every field. There will be those who cannot compete and fall by the wayside...if these are few in number, their families and charities can help them. If too many Singaporeans cannot be as competitive as foreigners, we will be in deep trouble.

Problem is: many Singaporeans are blissfully unaware of the challenges confronting them. Fatum said that China produces 25 million graduates per year...even if just the top 0.01% of a single year's graduates come to Singapore, we will be in trouble. Singapore graduates must be more able than their Chinese counterparts, go into emerging industries and acquire technology that is not available in China. But that is not going to be enough, as the Chinese will catch up eventually. We have to continually upgrade our skills and stay a step ahead as the government keeps saying....there is good reason for that.

And I do not think that an individual's interests should be the overrriding factor when choosing what to study...marketable skills are more important.

reyes SG

As we should too The point I want to make is that Singaporeans cannot blame the bosses for hiring foreigners if foreign workers can do the same job for less. Bosses also want to earn as much as they can.

We must do what the foreigners cannot at every level in every field. There will be those who cannot compete and fall by the wayside...if these are few in number, their families and charities can help them. If too many Singaporeans cannot be as competitive as foreigners, we will be in deep trouble.

Problem is: many Singaporeans are blissfully unaware of the challenges confronting them. Fatum said that China produces 25 million graduates per year...even if just the top 0.01% of a single year's graduates come to Singapore, we will be in trouble. Singapore graduates must be more able than their Chinese counterparts, go into emerging industries and acquire technology that is not available in China. But that is not going to be enough, as the Chinese will catch up eventually. We have to continually upgrade our skills and stay a step ahead as the government keeps saying....there is good reason for that.

And I do not think that an individual's interests should be the overrriding factor when choosing what to study...marketable skills are more important.

i fear one day singaporean future leader will think like you. fittest survive. you are assuming that most employer are ethical and will always put priority in employing singaporean. how many cases are true? you tends to compare our salary to china/indian/thailand etc but fail to address the true cause of problems that is high standard of living. and a salary that doesnt match. do singaporean prefer high standard of living or lower cost of living? it depend on what class of income you belong to. i am not fighting for myself nor those upper and middle class singaporean, who mostly can fend for themselves in this capitalism market or i simply call it big fish eat small fish world.
i do hope we can fight for those unfortunate fellow singaporean who are stuck in high cost of living and salary competing with foreign workers(not talent). how lower a expectation standard of living can we still ask these groups of singaporean to go? how are we going to tell these groups of ppl to be realistic about? how much productivity are we still gona squeeze them out? how marketable can we ask them to be?
maybe retraining is a way out for some but not all.

but yet again this isnt a simple issue isnt it. economically, social responsibility of govt/employer,managing expectation, a pro govt union movement.
sometimes i feel our govt does one thing better than the north korean regime. brainwashing.

drawer SG

You are wrong,the paid is too low in some servicing industry,n yet the working hours increases,F**k the government!!!!

ShutterBug SG

Precisely the points!

IF not for the high salaries of the ministers (just one of the contributing factors) salaries and living costs wouldn't be so absurdly skewed.

And of course, their universal excuse that it is rising oil prices... right....

right now, a lot of people are just waiting for the old tree to fall and plant a new one that will bear fruits with smaller or fewer seeds and more flesh...

Poolman SG

Not that no people want to work for Isetan , of course i won't work for Isetan if Isetan offered me pathetic pay , right ?

Before Isetan make this statement , they must make known to why they are not getting Singaporean to work for them , it's about $$$$ la .

$750 for a cashier's job ? 44 hrs per week , odd hours , reached home 10pm , no overtime , no incentives , orchard food expensive , transport expensive ..... expenses high ? How to work ?

work liao , month end also negative in $$$ , what for ?

Sinagapore work must have take home $800 than can survive . Gross must have $1100 la , to be fair .

take home lesser than $600 , eat what ?

ShutterBug SG

Problem is, our gov can't see or don't want to see that $800 p/mth is not enough!

They think we can survive on PEANUTS!

Wind6 SG

Guess life for other "ppl" is different frm us the typical worker trying to make ends meets though Laughing

macjoe SG

Why has the Sg worker become so unemployable compared to the foreign worker?

Why are employers going for foreign workers?

Why is the Sg worker more expensive to employ than the foreign worker?

What's the Sg gov's responsibility to the Singaporean workers AND foreign workers?

With the way employment works here, the future doesn't look promising for the Sg worker...it sure looks bright for the foreign worker...imho.

Idea

av98m SG

Why has the Sg worker become so unemployable compared to the foreign worker?

Ans: because they are willing to take ridiculously low wages

Why are employers going for foreign workers?

Ans: because they are willing to take ridiculously low wages

Why is the Sg worker more expensive to employ than the foreign worker?

Ans: because we(most of us anyway) actually have to live in Singapore for the long term. and hence are subject to the rising cost of living here.

What's the Sg gov's responsibility to the Singaporean workers AND foreign workers?

Ans: None, it appears. The government feels more responsible to employers, helping to ensure that they can squeeze the workers dry. This is essential to attract foreign companies to set up shop here and increase the government's corporate tax revenue.

With the way employment works here, the future doesn't look promising for the Sg worker...it sure looks bright for the foreign worker...imho.
Ans: Yes, for the foreign workers who are remitting their pay back home where the money goes a long way compared to here. They can go home and retire in comfort after some years of scrimping and saving here.

Possible solution?

Give up citizenship and migrate to those same countries the foreigners are coming from. Then come back to Singapore as foreign talent. Remitt most of your pay back home and build a nice retirement nest Laughing

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