SINGAPORE : Some recruitment experts have said the
proposed wage shake-up by Professor Lim Chong Yah earlier this week
could blunt Singapore's competitiveness, if
implemented.
Professor Lim, who had chaired the National Wages
Council between the 1970s to 2001, said there is a need to
restructure wages to address the issue of growing income inequality
in Singapore.
Among his suggestions are to progressively raise the
pay of those earning below S$1,500 a month by 50 per cent over the
next three years, and freezing the pay of those earning S$15,000 or
more a month for the same number of years.
Experts said these ideas bear good intentions but they are also
risky.
Tim Hird, managing director (Asia) at Robert Half International,
said: "The country's ability to attract, retain and compensate its
top individuals is going to be very important, and the primary
reason for that is we do not want that talent leaving Singapore,
going overseas to other countries. I think it is a lot harder
practically to implement."
Ernest Kan, president of the Institute of Certified Public
Accountants of Singapore, said: "As a result, you may have no
choice but to move one or two persons below him to that S$15,000
category because that talent has left. By doing so, if the person
is not ready, then that will affect productivity, because if he is
not ready, it will take time to learn to do that job."
- CNA/ms
