WE NOTE that Mr Philip Wong had written on the same subject
('Clear career path for low-paid Singaporeans'; Tuesday) to the
Ministry of Manpower (MOM) earlier to which we had replied.
Mr Wong's suggestion to abolish the S-Pass is untenable as
businesses that require their skills will no longer invest in
Singapore.
Fewer jobs will be created and this will backfire on Singaporean
workers.
S-Pass holders help plug the gaps in the manpower pool and are
necessary to help grow the economy as well as help provide critical
services to Singaporeans in occupations such as nurses, teachers
and technicians.
To encourage companies to hire better-qualified S-Pass holders
with the right skills for the jobs, we have reviewed and
recalibrated the eligibility criteria for S-Pass over the past few
years so that only better qualified and more experienced applicants
will be issued the pass.
The recent announcements on the increase in the levy on S-Pass
holders and the tightening of the levy tiers are aimed at
moderating the demand for S-Pass holders.
As for Mr Wong's proposal to increase the number of sources of
Work Permit holders, he may wish to note that China is already an
approved source of Work Permit holders.
However, adding more sources of Work Permit holders as suggested
by Mr Wong will merely add to the pool of low-cost and low-skilled
workers in Singapore and may instead impede ongoing efforts to help
the very group of Singaporeans which the Government and Mr Wong
both wish to help.
Besides workers, businesses like Mr Wong's should also do their
part to press on with the productivity improvements and redesign
their jobs to attract more Singaporeans.
To help low-skilled and low-income workers, the Government has
invested heavily in developing our Continuing Education and
Training framework, and will continue to strengthen outreach
efforts and lower training barriers.
Low-wage workers can benefit from Workfare, which provides an
income supplement as well as offers enhanced training support. This
will help to improve the employability of low-wage Singapore
workers by arming them with better skills so that they can take on
better jobs and enjoy higher wages.
Farah Abdul Rahim (Ms)
Director, Corporate Communications
Ministry of Manpower
-- ST Forum