SINGAPORE: Acting Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin said the
government will not be changing its decision on the tightening of
foreign manpower policies for the foreseeable future.
The focus he said is to help companies ease off their dependence
on foreign labour and succeed in the adjustment process.
Mr Tan was speaking at a recording of Channel NewsAsia's
programme "Ask Minister".
Mr Tan said: "I think I need to be quite definitive here, so
that the signal is clear because I would say for some time, I would
say the industry was thinking that government will make a U-turn so
therefore the changes perhaps did not quite happen. I think people
were hoping that if the pressure was high enough, we will make
adjustments and so on. And we notice that as a result of that, the
propensity to do the way we do things was not so significant."
He said should affected companies close down, assistance will be
provided to them and their workers to find alternatives.
Going forward, Mr Tan said the government is looking for a
leaner manpower set-up and businesses which depend on cheap labour
should rethink how their businesses are run.
"In areas where you need to depend on low wage, cheaper labour,
I think those are sectors we need to rethink - either in the way we
do business, in the way we operate or maybe some of these sectors
may not be quite relevant."
Wage growth will be another focus in the next couple of
years.
Mr Tan said he is "very uncomfortable with the fact" that some
of the wages of low wage workers have remained quite stagnant for
some time.
He pointed that the government has already enhanced the Workfare
programmes and adjusted the CPF contributions.
He said more will be done to put in place progressive work
practices in industries such as security and cleaning.
"We are looking at restructuring the approach so progressive
work practices will be put in place. So structurally, we will hope
to see, and I think in a tight labour market, wages begin to move
up but at the same time augmented by all the different measures to
support that effort,” said Mr Tan.
As the economy restructures, Mr Tan said the aim is to provide
Singaporeans at all levels with good opportunities and good
jobs.
Catch more of the discussion with Mr Tan on Tuesday, April
16 at 8pm on "Ask Minister", exclusively on Channel
NewsAsia.
- CNA/fa