Lim Swee Say
Singapore
“The number of reports received via the Snap@MOM app, number of valid reports and number of companies issued with enforcement actions between 2015 and 2017 are shown in the table below: All valid reports have resulted in warnings or enforcement actions.”
“In the case of students from ITE, polytechnics or autonomous universities, employers do not need to contribute CPF if the student is employed by them for training that is approved by their institutions.”
“Together with our tripartite partners at the national and sector levels, we have to do our best to transform across all sectors, for our economy to transform and grow, pervasively, as One Singapore Unlimited.”
“Between April and December 2017, the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management (TADM) and the Employment Claims Tribunal (ECT) concluded 3,750 employee salary claims where the employer was ordered to make payment to the worker. Salaries were fully recovered in about 92% of these orders. The remaining claims involved 139 employers.”
“The number of employed residents aged 62 and over, and 67 and over has increased over the last five years (see Table 1 below). Of all employed residents aged 67 and over in 2017, 64% were males; 80% held secondary and below qualifications, 9% had post-secondary qualifications, while 11% were tertiary-educated; 52% of this group of older w…”
“The proportion of full-time resident employees earning below $2,000 who received bonuses, including the Annual Wage Supplement, has remained stable at about 50% over the last decade. Employers and unions share the flexibility in structuring staff remuneration together under our Flexible and Performance Based wage systems.”
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“The tripartite partners will monitor the workplace harassment situation closely and make further interventions if necessary.”
“In the last five years, the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP) received about 1,500 complaints on workplace issues. Among them, six cases were related to allegations of workplace harassment. TAFEP had looked into all the six cases. In four of them, with the employees' consent, we engaged the employer and advised them to take corrective actions. For the two cases where the employees did not wish for TAFEP to engage the employer, we advised the employees on their options. All the six cases were closed after TAFEP had provided advice to the employers or employees. To protect individuals against harassment, including workplace harassment, the Government introduced the Protection from Harassment Act in 2014. Employees who face workplace harassment should seek help promptly and can report such incidents to the Ministry of Manpower or TAFEP. They can also seek civil remedies directly through the Courts or report egregious cases to the Police. Employees can also report the matter to their employers if they wish to resolve the matter privately without involving the authorities. Employers are expected to intervene and take necessary actions to address the employees' concerns. Given that there are already multiple avenues for employees who face workplace harassment to seek help, there is no need to legislate mandatory reporting by employers. To create more awareness among employers and employees, the Singapore National Employers Federation, the National Trades Union Congress and TAFEP conduct regular workshops addressing workplace grievances, including workplace harassment. Employers are also reminded of their obligations to prevent and manage workplace harassment through the Tripartite Advisory on Managing Workplace Harassment.”
“The Employment Act requires employers to provide sick leave to employees after three months of service. To apply for sick leave, the employee must obtain a medical certificate by a Government doctor or a doctor appointed by the employer. To ensure the employee can do so, we, therefore, require the employer to pay for the consultation fees. Beyond this, there is no requirement for employers to provide additional mandatory medical benefits for their employees. This is so that jobseekers in poorer health or with pre-existing illnesses would not face more hurdles in finding employment. Even so, a Ministry of Manpower survey showed that a vast majority (86%) of employers do offer outpatient benefits on a voluntary basis. Singaporean low-wage workers who face difficulties in meeting their medication costs can access subsidised outpatient care at Government polyclinics and specialist outpatient clinics (SOCs) at public hospitals. In addition, lower- and middle-income Singaporeans on the Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS) can enjoy even higher subsidies at SOCs. They can also use the CHAS card to access subsidised outpatient medical and dental care at private general practitioners and dental clinics.”
“To help employees better understand their employment terms and to minimise employment disputes, the Employment Act requires employers to provide each employee with the key employment terms in written form. The required key employment terms include salary, hours of work and employment benefits, such as annual leave, as well as the duration of employment for term contracts. Employers who fail to issue key employment terms may be subjected to an administrative penalty of a fine of up to $200 for each breach. Since the requirement was implemented on 1 April 2016, 105 employers have been issued with advisory notices for failing to issue key employment terms. No fines have been imposed as all the employers were cooperative and rectified the breaches. None of them was a repeat offender. We do not track the age group of the employees affected. Employees who are not provided with written key employment terms can approach the Ministry of Manpower for assistance.”
“The number of Work Injury Compensation (WIC) claims has been stable. From 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2017, a total of 33,743 WIC claims were processed, of which 30,695 claims (91%) were valid. Another 2,538 claims (7.5%) were withdrawn due to various reasons, such as workers wishing to resolve the compensation with their employers privately, choosing to pursue common law or deciding not to proceed with their claims. The remaining 510 claims (about 1.5%) were found to be invalid after investigation, mostly due to the injuries not being work-related. More than 99.9% of the valid claims were given compensation by employers. Only seven out of the 30,695 valid claims were not compensated by the deadline given by the Assistant Commissioner (Work Injury Compensation). These non-compensation cases arose as the employers failed to insure the workers and they claimed financial difficulties. We take enforcement actions, including prosecution, on these employers for non-insurance and non-compensation, and debar the companies and individual directors from hiring foreign workers until they have provided compensation. Of the seven cases, three have since been compensated. Another one case has been assisted with ex gratia payments from the Workers' Fund managed by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) after the employer was sentenced to jail for failing to comply with the Work Injury compensation order. For the remaining three cases, MOM has prosecuted one of the employers and will take enforcement actions against the remaining two errant employers, such as prosecution or composition fines, depending on the investigation findings. We will provide Workers' Fund assistance to the three affected workers, if the compensation orders are not paid up.”
“To keep strengthening employment support for our local jobseekers, Workforce Singapore (WSG) adopts a multi-provider approach to help them. It runs three career centres, complemented by two more centres operated by the National Trades Union Congress-Employment and Employability Institute. In addition, WSG and its predecessor, Workforce Development Agency (WDA), had tapped on private sector employment agencies to provide wider employment outreach for our jobseekers. As unemployment has generally been low, placements done by most employment agencies here have involved mainly passive jobseekers, that is, persons already in employment who may not be actively searching for jobs. To step up our support for active jobseekers who are unemployed and actively looking for jobs, we did a global search of employment agencies with the business model, experience and expertise suited to help such active jobseekers. We found that partnerships between the government and the private sector have been successful in countries, such as the United Kingdom and Australia, where private placement providers are contracted to place active jobseekers, including those who may face greater employment barriers. Hence, WSG appointed two of them as our partners so that we can adapt some of their best practices in Singapore for the benefit of our active jobseekers. The two placement providers in the current pilot commenced operations six and eight months ago. Currently, they are still ramping up their operations and have yet to reach steady state. The payment they will receive from WSG will mainly depend on how many jobseekers they are able to place, taking into account the profile of the jobseekers, including age and length of unemployment.”
“We will continue to work with the tripartite partners to improve opportunities for older Singaporeans who are fit and ready to find employment.”
“As mindset change is also needed to improve the employability of older workers, the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP) runs campaigns to raise awareness of the value that older workers bring to the workforce and encourage employers to tap on their skills and experience. In June 2017, the unemployment rate of older residents aged 60 and above in the labour force remained low at 3.3%. MOM actively supports them through the Adapt and Grow Initiative. This includes Career Matching services, as well as programmes to help workers overcome wage and skill mismatches. In particular, the Career Support Programme encourages employers to hire experienced, mature professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs), especially the long-term unemployed, by providing them with salary support. Mature PMETs can tap on the higher wage and training support under the Professional Conversion Programmes to reskill, so that they can move into new occupations and sectors with good prospects and progression. Mature rank-and-file workers can also tap on wage and training support under Work Trial and other Place-and-Train/Train-and-Place programmes offered by Workforce Singapore and the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC)-Employment and Employability Institute. Our various programmes to improve the employability of older workers have been showing encouraging results. The employment rate of residents aged 55-64 has increased from 61.2% in 2011 to 67.3% in 2016. This compares favourably with developed economies, with Singapore ranked ninth against 35 the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development countries in 2016.”
“Under the Retirement and Re-employment Act (RRA), employers are required to offer eligible employees re-employment till age 67. Since re-employment was introduced in 2012, over 98% of private-sector local employees who wished to continue working at age 62 were offered re-employment. The number of disputes related to re-employment has remained low for the past five years, at about 40 each year. Most cases were resolved through mediation, with less than four cases, on average each year, which proceeded to adjudication. These cases contain a mix of situations where the dispute arose due to a misunderstanding of the law by the employer or employee. The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has in place a number of measures to increase the employability of older workers and encourage employers to hire older workers. The Special Employment Credit (SEC) scheme provides a wage offset of up to 8% of monthly wages to employers when they hire older workers. An additional wage offset of up to 3% of monthly wages is also provided to encourage continued employment of older workers aged 65 and above. Reduced employer Central Provident Fund (CPF) contribution rates for employees aged 55 and above further help to moderate the costs of hiring older workers for employers. Under the WorkPro scheme, employers can receive Government funding support of up to $320,000 per company to implement age management practices and redesign workplaces and processes to create easier, safer and smarter jobs for older workers.”
“In the 12 months since the inception of Workforce Singapore (WSG), that is, the fourth quarter (4Q) 2016 – 3Q2017, more than 23,000 jobseekers registered at WSG’s and the National Trades Union Congress' (NTUC's)-Employment and Employability Institute's (e2i's) career centres for career matching services, and about 14,000 jobseekers were placed through these services. In addition, about a further 10,000 were placed through other Adapt and Grow programmes to address wage and skills mismatches. Of all the jobseekers placed, more than half were professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs), more than half were aged 40 and above, and about a third were long-term unemployed (LTU). Since July 2017, WSG's career centres have been remodelled and rebranded as Careers Connect with an expanded suite of customised career matching services. Jobseekers who require more in-depth support can undergo tailored career management and counselling programmes and receive dedicated one-to-one career coaching suited to their needs. We had also enhanced our programmes under the Adapt and Grow initiative in 2017, such as the Professional Conversion Programmes (PCP) and the Career Support Programme (CSP), to provide more training and wage support to jobseekers, especially the mature and LTU, and employers to help overcome mismatches arising from skills or wage expectation gaps.”
“Workfare Training Support (WTS) encourages low-wage Singapore Citizens (SCs) to attend training to upgrade their skills by providing them with substantial course fee subsidies, monetary awards and training allowances. It also supports employers who send their workers for training. Since its inception in July 2010 till December 2017, more than 270,000 unique workers have tapped on WTS to undergo training. WTS is in line with SkillsFuture, a national movement that provides opportunities for Singaporeans to develop their fullest potential through lifelong learning. For instance, Singaporeans receive up to 90% of enhanced subsidy from SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) when they access a curated set of training programmes under the SkillsFuture Series. But with WTS, eligible low-wage SCs are supported with an even higher tier of subsidy, at 95% of course fees. Additionally, absentee payroll for employers, as well as training allowances for trainees without employer support are provided. WTS trainees can also receive the WTS Training Commitment Award, which is a cash award of up to $400 per year, for undergoing sustained training. Apart from generous training subsidies, the Government has worked with the tripartite partners to put in place other measures to uplift low-wage workers. For example, the Progressive Wage Models in the cleaning, security and landscaping sectors provide clear progression pathways for workers to acquire new skills, take on higher responsibilities and earn higher wages. In addition, the Inclusive Growth Programme provides funding support to companies that undertake productivity improvement projects and share their productivity gains with low-wage workers.”
“Since re-employment was introduced in 2012, over 98% of private-sector local employees who wished to continue working at age 62 were offered re-employment. Among those offered re-employment at age 62 in 2016, two in three employees were able to continue on their existing contracts with no change in employment terms and conditions. For those offered re-employment on new contracts, one in three was offered contracts for a period of more than a year. We do not track the renewal of re-employment contracts of individual employees at the end of the first and second year of their re-employment. However, almost all private-sector local employees who were in employment when they turned 63 and 64 and wished to continue working, were offered re-employment. This suggests that older employees who want to continue working are given opportunities to continue to do so by their employers.”
“Since 2005, we allow Work Permit holders (WPHs) in the construction sector to change employers if their current employers agree. Since 2015, we also allow all construction sector WPHs to change employers at the end of their Work Permit term, if they are not able to come to a mutual agreement on the renewal of their Work Permits. Since June this year, we also allow WPHs in the process sector the same flexibilities. In addition, WPHs who have valid claims against their employers have been allowed to find another employer. The transfer policy improves productivity as employers benefit from hiring WPHs with work experience in Singapore. Employers also save on repatriation, search and hiring costs, as the WPHs do not have to leave Singapore. As of October 2017, approximately 128,000 WPHs changed employers before the end of their Work Permit terms with their employers' consent. Another 400 WPHs changed employers after completing their Work Permit terms. The Ministry of Manpower is reviewing whether the transfer policy can be extended progressively to other sectors at an appropriate time, taking into account the impact on both businesses and workers.”
“Consistently between 2012 and 2016, over 90% of the local workforce in the financial and insurance services sector were permanent workers. In addition, locals accounted for more than 80% of the workforce in this sector. Among all local workers aged below 40 who were in the financial and insurance services sector in 2012, close to 70% were still working in the same sector in 2016.”
“The Tripartite Advisory on Managing Workplace Harassment was issued in December 2015 to serve as a practical guide for employers and employees to better prevent and manage harassment at the workplace. The advisory helps foster workplace environments where harassment is not tolerated and educates workers who face harassment on where to seek help, including remedies available under the Protection from Harassment Act. Tripartite advisories are meant to provide a guide for employers and employees and are not prescriptive. We do not track how many companies have adopted the measures suggested in the advisories, including that on managing workplace harassment. In the last three years, fewer than five of the 800 of the complaints lodged with the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices, or TAFEP, involved allegations of workplace harassment. Each of these complaints was looked into, with TAFEP advising the complainant on possible means to seek recourse. TAFEP also followed up with the employers, for substantiated complaints, to highlight the feedback received and advise them to take corrective actions where necessary. On an ongoing basis, the National Trades Union Congress, Singapore National Employers Federation and TAFEP conduct regular courses to help employers adopt policies to prevent and manage workplace harassment. More than 450 company representatives have been trained over the last two years. The Ministry of Manpower and TAFEP will continue to monitor the situation and take each report of alleged workplace harassment seriously. We urge workers who face workplace harassment to get help promptly. This includes reporting to the authorities, such as the Police, for criminal offences, or the Court for civil remedies.”
“Mr Speaker, I do not have on hand the racial breakdown, but I do ask for it from time to time. From the numbers that I have seen so far, by breakdown in terms of racial groups and gender, they are quite inclusive. In fact, if I remember correctly – I stand to be corrected – the percentage of the minority racial groups who are successfully placed is, in fact, higher than the workforce average.”
“Mr Speaker, our local workforce is about 2.2 million. Of this 2.2 million, on the average, every year, about 180,000 to 200,000 would leave our resident workforce. It could be for retirement, further studies or to take a break from their job and career and so on. At the same time, about the same number, 180,000 to 200,000 would re-enter the workforce. They are either new entrants or re-entrants. For example, people who go for further studies come back to work; people who took a break and come back to work. So, every year, if you look at the turnover of our resident workforce, it is about 180,000 to 200,000. Of the 180,000 to 200,000 who come back to the workforce, not all of them would need help from Workforce Singapore (WSG) or the Employment and Employability Institute (e2i). In fact, the vast majority are able to find employment on their own. Of those who need additional help and come to WSG or e2i, for the PMETs, our success rate is about 65%. In other words, for every three local PMETs who need job placement assistance from WSG or e2i, we are able to successfully secure jobs for two out of three. For the other one-third, even though we are not able to succeed in getting job placements for them, it does not mean that all of them would remain unemployed. Some of them will go on on their own to find their own jobs. I hope this will give the Member the big picture.”
“Mr Speaker, again, this is an important question. Retrenchment has gone up in the last two years. What the tripartite partners – the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), MOM, together with the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) – did was we formed a retrenchment response task force. What this task force does is, firstly, we monitor whether the retrenchment was done in a responsible manner. Secondly, in what way can we provide greater support to the workers, including the PMETs affected? The support that we have provided is not just to SPH. We have extended the same level of support to all the workers affected by retrenchments since last year. And this year, more are being done.”
“So, we learn together, adapt together and grow together.”
“Mr Speaker, this is also a very important question. The pace of the restructuring, obviously, is not even across all sectors, across all companies. But what has happened in the last few years, as I had mentioned earlier, is that through this four-prong approach, our economy has become more manpower-lean. As a result, more and more companies have come to the realisation that counting on manpower-driven growth, as it was the past, is no longer relevant in future. In other words, we are seeing more companies now preparing to transform instead of coming to MOM to ask us to relax on the foreign worker policy. In fact, more and more of them are now coming forward to ask us what we can do to help them to become manpower-lean. One example is the Lean Enterprise Development (LED) scheme launched last year. The purpose of the LED scheme is to encourage more and more small and medium enterprises (SMEs), in particular, to become more manpower-lean and to become more resource-lean, rather than to keep asking for more foreign workers. Last year, about 2,000 SMEs took part in this programme. By now, after about 20 months, the total number has exceeded 5,000. So, we are seeing a very healthy increase. This coming Friday, we are holding our second annual symposium on the LED scheme where the tripartite partners will be coming together to take stock of what we have achieved together in the last two years, and how we can do even more moving forward. For example, up to now, we help mainly company by company, enterprise by enterprise. We are now looking at how we can get groups of companies to come together, so that instead of just working on the development of Lean Enterprise, we can work together towards the development of Lean Industry.”
“Mr Speaker, I fully agree with the Member. In the future, under the ITM, we can expect to see more and more sectors requiring advanced and specialised skills. And yet, at the same time, we also need to inculcate in our PMETs the ability to adapt. In other words, they have to re-specialise within their job sectors and their career and, at the same time, they must be prepared to keep re-specialising repeatedly. I also fully agree that tripartite partnership is very important in changing the mindset of the employer, changing the mindset of the worker. At the end of the day, we can only truly succeed if we are able to get every employer to come on board to make every job a better job, and if we are able to get every worker to come on board to adapt and grow so that we can make every worker a better worker. And hopefully, through our tripartite partners, we can match every better job to every better worker, and every better worker to every job, so that we do not have a problem with unemployment, under-employment and structural unemployment.”
“That is the reason why we continue to expand PCP to more and more sectors. I expect the number of PMETs participating in PCP to continue to grow. On the question about how PCP aligns with ITM, this is a very important question. We look at the 23 ITM sectors and our assessment is that about five sectors will contribute to about 60% of the PMET job creation in the medium term. These sectors are finance and banking, infocomm and media, healthcare, wholesale trade and professional services. These five sectors combined together will account for 60% of the PMET job creation in the medium term. MOM is, therefore, working closely with the respective economic agencies and Ministries to see how we can step up our efforts to help: firstly, more of the PMETs in these five sectors to remain employable within their companies, what we call in-company PCP, so that even though their jobs are at risk today, we can help them to update their skills and remain employable within the same company; secondly, for those who for whatever reasons are being affected by company redundancy, to help them to remain in the same industry, and so there is an intra-sector PCP; and thirdly, to help those who are affected by redundancy elsewhere to convert and come into these growing sectors through inter-sector PCP. This focused effort has started. In the coming months, Members can expect to see many more initiatives being launched.”
“Mr Speaker, firstly, I share the same concerns as Ms Foo Mee Har regarding the impact of the ongoing restructuring on our mid-career PMETs. This time round, we can see that 70% of the workers affected by redundancy are the PMETs. This is the reason why under our A&G initiative, we pay particular attention to the PMETs. Among the PMETs affected, those who are more than 40 years old, or the mid-career mature PMETs, our concern is that they may need more support to remain employable. This is the reason why we have been enhancing our support for the mature PMETs in our A&G programmes. For example, we give them a higher wage support of up to 90%, spread out over a longer duration for the PCP of up to 18 months, and so on. I want to point out that the number of PMETs that we have helped is more than the 1,500 that went through the PCP. As I had mentioned earlier, in the first eight months of this year, we have helped 16,000 local jobseekers to secure jobs. Out of these, 58% are PMETs. So, if we take 58% of 16,000, we will come to almost 10,000 local PMETs who managed to secure jobs with the help provided for under the A&G programmes. PCP is one of them. Of the 10,000 who successfully found jobs, not every one of them needed to go through professional conversion. There is a split between missed-match and mismatch. Missed-match means they are job ready except that they need some help to secure jobs through our job-matching services. Only for those who face difficulty in the mismatch of skill, wage expectation and so on, we would help them with the Career Support Programme (CSP) and PCP. I would say that by looking ahead into the future, we expect the proportion of PMETs who have to overcome mismatch is going to continue to grow.”
“Beyond these efforts of the Government and the tripartite partners, our local PMETs must be prepared to adapt and grow to stay relevant and seize new opportunities. Likewise, employers must also do their part to be inclusive and adopt fair and progressive hiring practices. In this regard, I am encouraged that more local PMETs and more employers are making good use of A&G programmes. In the first half of this year, about 1,500 local PMETs have undergone skills conversion through Professional Conversion Programmes (PCPs). This is more than double that in the same period last year. Likewise, in the first six months of this year, nearly 1,500 employers participated in A&G programmes, such as the PCPs and P-MAX. This is almost the total number for the whole of last year. As a result, the number of local jobseekers who secured jobs successfully with the help of the A&G programmes has continued to increase and remain inclusive. In the first eight months of this year, out of more than 16,000 successful job placements, more than half of them, or 58%, are PMETs. And more than half, or 53%, are more than 40 years old, and almost 30%, to be exact 29%, are more than 50 years old; and 30% were long-term unemployed before we found jobs for them. In other words, they found jobs after being unemployed for longer than six months. This inclusive profile of job placement is, indeed, encouraging. We will keep doing more, doing better for local PMETs and our local workforce. Mr Speaker, with the strong commitment of individuals, employers and the tripartite partners, we are confident that we can strive for healthy employment outcomes as we transform, adapt and grow together, not just as an innovative economy, but also as an inclusive workforce.”
“For example, Singaporeans can look forward to good jobs that harness technology in artificial intelligence in infocomm and media, data analytics in electronics manufacturing, financial technology (FinTech) in finance and banking, and prefabrication technology in construction. More industry Transformation Maps (ITMs) will be launched progressively in the coming months. Together, we aim to achieve and sustain nett employment growth of about 25,000 to 40,000 a year. This is lower than the high job growth of 120,000 a year three to five years ago which was not sustainable, but is higher than the low job growth of less than 10,000 last year. More importantly, through these ITMs, we aim to improve the quality of jobs pervasively across all sectors, in other words, to make every job a better job. We will also continue to strengthen the SkillsFuture movement to equip our people with the skills needed for the future economy, in other words, to make every worker a better worker. For instance, the Ministry of Education (MOE) recently announced the SkillsFuture Series to provide working adults with industry-relevant skills in eight priority and emerging skills areas that draw reference from the ITMs. The Ministry of Manpower (MOM), together with our tripartite partners, will press on with our A&G efforts to support more local PMETs of all ages from all industries to grow in their current careers or pursue new career opportunities in new and key growth sectors. We will also help speed up the transfer of advanced and emerging expertise from outside of Singapore to our local workforce through the newly launched Capability Transfer Programme.”
“The PMET share of the resident workforce has also improved in the last three years from 53.5% in 2014 to 56.1% in 2017. In other words, 56% of the resident workforce today is doing PMET jobs. The rate of increase is at a faster rate than the previous three years. What is also worth noting is the share of nett PMET employment growth that went to our local PMETs. The three-year moving average has improved significantly over the last few years, from about 50% five years ago – in other words, one local PMET versus one foreign PMET – to about 75% in the past three years – or three local PMETs versus one foreign PMET (Annex B). Likewise, real median incomes, including employer Central Provident Fund (CPF) contributions of full-time employed residents, have risen by 4.3% per annum from 2014 to 2016, much higher than 2.4% per annum from 2011 to 2014. This faster rate of increase in our medium wage is a reflection of improvement in the quality of jobs for our resident workforce. Moving forward, there is still much to do to create more and better job opportunities for our local workforce. Unemployment and long-term unemployment rates have risen, though marginally, in past two years. We need to, first, bring total employment growth up to about 25,000 to 40,000 a year to keep unemployment down; second, improve the quality of jobs to minimise under-employment; and third, minimise job-skills mismatches so as to prevent unemployment from becoming structural and sticky. Our economic agencies and tripartite partners will continue to transform industries, from manufacturing to services and construction.”
“To enhance career opportunities for our local workforce, we have acted on four fronts: first, transforming our economy to be more innovative, productive and manpower-lean so that we can remain competitive and create enough good jobs for our people; second, strengthening lifelong learning through the SkillsFuture movement so as to enhance the employability of our local workforce throughout their working life; third, helping more local professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) under the Adapt and Grow (A&G) initiative to adapt better to the rapid pace of technological change so that they can grow in their current careers or switch to new careers; and last but not least, raising the qualifying criteria of Employment Pass and strengthening the Fair Consideration Framework (FCF) so as to improve the complementarity of local and foreign PMETs. Outcomes have been positive. Our economy has become more manpower-lean and our workforce more productive. Manpower growth has slowed from 4% in 2014 to 2% in 2015, and to 1% last year. What is even more encouraging is that productivity growth has also improved to 1% last year, after remaining flat since 2012. With even higher productivity growth this year than last year, we are making steady progress towards our medium-term growth strategy of 1% growth in manpower and 2% growth in productivity for a 3% growth in gross domestic product (GDP) per annum. From this diagram (Annex A), Members can see that we are making a transition from a "4+0=4" situation, which means 4% manpower growth and 0% increase in productivity, towards the growth strategy of "1+2=3". Over the last few years, we have been making steady progress towards that outcome.”
“Mr Speaker, may I have your permission to display some slides during my reply, please?”
“The number of workers5 employed in majority foreign-owned enterprises6 is provided in Table 1 below. Breakdown by residential status, age group and educational level is not available.”
“Based on the Ministry of Manpower's Labour Market Supplementary Survey, from 2012 to 2016, over 98% of private sector local employees who wished to continue working were offered re-employment at age 62. This included over 95% who accepted re-employment in the same job, be it on a new or existing contract. Of those who accepted re-employment in the same job at age 62, around 96% did not receive any cut in basic wages in 2012. This proportion rose to 98% in 2016.”
“The annual breakdown of foreign domestic worker (FDW) levies collected since 2012 is as follows: Similar to other sources of Government revenue, the levies collected go into the Consolidated Fund. This is then used to fund all areas of Government expenditures, including financial assistance schemes to support households in need. One such assistance scheme is the FDW Grant administered by the Agency of Integrated Care. Eligible households with family members who require permanent assistance with three or more Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) can apply for an FDW Grant of $120 per month. This grant is means-tested and can be used to offset the cost of hiring an FDW. Since 2012, over 17,000 have benefited from the FDW Grant. Additionally, Singaporean households with children, elderly persons or persons who require help with at least one ADL are offered a concessionary FDW levy rate of $60, much lower than the full FDW levy rate of $265. FDWs who are in need of financial assistance can already turn to non-government organisations (NGOs) like the Centre for Domestic Employees. These NGOs play an important role and have raised funds to provide humanitarian aid to FDWs. Instead of the Government providing direct financial assistance to FDWs, we should continue to support the work of these NGOs.”
“A vast majority of jobseekers and employers are able to find suitable matches on their own through recruitment agencies, job advertisements, job portals or their own networks. Adapt and Grow schemes, such as the Professional Conversion Programme and the Career Support Programme, are intended to provide targeted help for jobseekers who need additional assistance to overcome skills requirements or wage expectation mismatches. These schemes provide substantial training and temporary wage support to help jobseekers (especially mature and/or long-term unemployed) and their prospective employers to bridge gaps in skills or wage expectations, so that they can better secure job matches. Auto-inclusion, auto-application or auto-funding approaches would not only require significantly more public funding but also weaken our efforts in targeting support at those who truly need the extra assistance.”
“We will continue to grow the community of progressive employers with our tripartite partners and sector agencies.”
“To encourage employers to strengthen the complementarity of foreign manpower with our local workforce instead of substituting foreigners for local workers, we take into consideration whether the employers have treated our local workers fairly when we process their applications for Employment Passes (EP). While the vast majority of employers are fair, there is evidence that a small minority are not. For these employers, we subject their EP applications to further scrutiny under the Fair Consideration Framework Watchlist. We currently have about 300 firms on the Watchlist. The Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices has been working with them to improve their human resource (HR) practices. More than 60 firms have already made significant improvements and exited the Watchlist, while 25 firms that remain uncooperative have had their work pass privileges curtailed. In all, about 1,700 EP applications were either withdrawn by the firms or rejected or withheld by the Ministry of Manpower. Over the same period, these firms considered Singaporeans more fairly and hired about 1,700 more Singaporean professionals, managers, executives and technicians. We will continue to help them improve their HR practices. At the other end of the spectrum, there are progressive employers who believe in strengthening their Singaporean Core and nurturing human capital as their core asset. We have recognised over 70 of them under the Human Capital Partnership Programme. We support them proactively with relevant grants and incentives under various Government schemes to develop their employees and strengthen their Singaporean Core. Their work pass applications are also processed more timely.”
“Individuals working in the gig economy can be employees or self-employed persons, commonly known as freelancers. For those who are employees, they and their employers are required to make Central Provident Fund (CPF) contributions for their healthcare and retirement needs. The Government also helps those who are in the lower-income group to build up their CPF savings through Workfare top-ups. As for those who are self-employed, they are required to save for healthcare through mandatory MediSave Account contributions. They can also save for retirement by making cash top-ups to their Special and Retirement Accounts and enjoy tax relief for doing so. Lower-income self-employed persons may also be eligible for Workfare top-ups from the Government. In view of the changing employment profile driven by technology and new business models, as announced at the Committee of Supply 2017, the Ministry of Manpower has formed a tripartite workgroup to study and holistically address the key issues that self-employed persons face, including saving for healthcare and retirement. The workgroup is currently studying the issues and consulting stakeholders and will provide an update on its findings in due course.”
“All foreign workers with valid salary claims are allowed to change employers. In the first six months of 2017, about 600 of such foreign workers indicated that they wished to change employers. Of these, about half found new jobs in Singapore. The Ministry of Manpower does not track if the workers went home in between jobs.”
“The inspections will focus on companies' measures related to training, fatigue management and risk management to improve the safety of delivery riders/drivers. All these measures seek to improve workplace safety for delivery riders/drivers. We are also looking into helping self-employed delivery persons get adequate insurance coverage. A Tripartite Workgroup has been formed to look into this matter as well as address other main concerns of self-employed persons. This was announced by the Ministry in its Committee of Supply debate this year.”
“From 2014 to 2016, there were six work-related traffic accidents that resulted in death, and 12 cases that resulted in serious injury, involving food delivery and courier services riders/drivers. With the growth of delivery services, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) is collaborating with the Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Council, the tripartite partners, the Traffic Police and the Land Transport Authority to step up our engagement efforts with companies and riders/drivers. To spread safety awareness among riders, the Singapore Ride Safe Campaign was launched on 19 August 2017. It sought to inculcate safe riding habits, such as avoiding blind spots, keeping within speed limits and wearing proper protective gear. To improve safety practices for companies, the WSH Council has initiated regular engagement sessions to share best practices. These include providing proper protective gear for delivery riders/drivers, sending them for advanced training, such as defensive driving or riding courses, conducting in-house safety training and installing vehicle/helmet-mounted cameras for greater safety consciousness. For both riders/drivers and companies, the WSH Council, in collaboration with key industry partners and unions, has also developed educational resources, including videos and guides, on safe driving tips. These are made available on the WSH Council website. The WSH Council will also develop a guide on safe motorcycle, bicycle and personal mobility device riding by the end of the year. It will contain advice on road traffic rules, hazard avoidance and safety checklists. At the same time, we have stepped up enforcement efforts. Since July, MOM has targeted 50 food delivery and courier services companies for inspection. This will be completed by September.”
“As of end December 2016, about half of all Central Provident Fund (CPF) members aged 16 and above have made a nomination for their CPF savings. When a CPF member passes away without making a nomination, his CPF savings will be transferred to the Public Trustee's Office (PTO) for distribution according to intestacy laws. The PTO charges an administration fee for this distribution of members' CPF savings and publishes the fee schedule on their website. CPF Board informs members of PTO’s administration fee and encourages them to make a nomination for their CPF savings through efforts, such as including customised messages in members' Yearly Statement of Accounts as well as educating them on the nomination scheme through CPF Board's social media channels, talks, roadshows and website. The Board also prompts members with no valid nomination to make one when they attend the CPF Retirement Planning Service at age 54.”
“The average retention rate for foreign domestic workers (FDWs) placed by employment agencies (EAs) has been stable for the last three years at around 50%, an improvement from about 40% in 2013. The average FDW transfer rate has been low, below 1.5% since 2013. The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has been taking steps to improve the professionalism and service standards of the EA industry. Since last year, employers' ratings of EAs' services have been systematically captured by the EA Customer Rating System. EAs are thus incentivised to ensure better matching between FDWs and prospective employers to improve the retention and transfer rates. The customer ratings of EAs are made available online on MOM's website under the EA Directory. Together with other information, such as placement volume, retention and transfer rates, the EA Directory helps employers make an informed choice on which EA to engage. The EA Directory is updated weekly and enables employers to make comparisons. As it is working well, we have no plans to require EAs to physically display such information at their premises. We also introduced the Advanced Placement Scheme (APS) pilot in August last year. Under the scheme, employers with caregiving needs are able to interview prospective FDWs face to face. Feedback has been positive as the face-to-face interviews have helped both parties better understand each other's needs and expectations. The majority of FDWs placed under APS are still with their first employer.”
“The Government had considered using basic pay, that is, excluding overtime pay and bonuses, in the computation of income for the purposes of the Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) Scheme, but decided not to pursue it because basic salary, overtime pay and bonuses are part of a worker's total income that will help support the worker and his or her family. Given that WIS is intended to help low-wage workers by supplementing their income, it is fair to look at the total income in assessing the level of support provided through WIS. This will also not incentivise employers and workers to reduce basic pay and increase overtime which would not be in the workers' interest.”
“The concession is already available today. Households with the following family members will be eligible for a foreign domestic worker levy concession: (a) elderly aged 65 and above; (b) children below the age of 16; or (c) persons certified by authorised healthcare professionals to require assistance with at least one Activity of Daily Living (ADL). Examples of ADL include showering, dressing, feeding or toileting.”
“Our law does not prohibit members of the public, including Work Permit holders, from borrowing from licensed moneylenders. However, under the Moneylenders Act, it is illegal for moneylenders to operate without a licence. For their protection, all members of the public, including Work Permit holders, should not borrow money from unlicensed moneylenders. The Singapore Police Force takes strong enforcement actions against unlicensed moneylenders, such as loansharks. If convicted, an individual who acts as an unlicensed moneylender can be sentenced to a fine of up to $300,000, seven years' imprisonment, and 12 strokes of the cane.”
“The Ministry of Manpower assesses applications to bring in male foreign domestic workers (FDWs) on a case-by-case basis and exercises flexibility in exceptional situations. We would assess if the family has special caregiving needs and why a male FDW may be more suitable than a female FDW. For example, a male FDW may be better at handling and caring for a male elderly disabled person who is of heavy build and who may behave aggressively. We would also consider the prospective FDW’s nursing skillsets or experience in caregiving. In addition, he would have to meet the general eligibility criteria for FDWs.”
“In the past three years, there were 389 amputation cases due to workplace accidents, comprising 129 cases in 2014, 117 in 2015, and 143 in 2016. In the first half of 2017, there were 57 cases. More than 70% of these cases involved the use of industrial machines and tools. There are three main causes for such accidents. Firstly, the lack of machine guards or safety design in machines. Secondly, employers' failure to put in place adequate safe work procedure. Thirdly, individuals' failure to follow procedures due to ignorance or disregard for safety. To improve the situation, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has adopted a more targeted enforcement operation on machinery safety at workplaces with industrial machines. The inspections will check on machine guards and safety design, as well as companies’ procedures for safe machine operation, in addition to other common safety breaches. MOM, the Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Council and the WSH Institute have also stepped up engagement efforts. We organise solutioning sessions and seminars on preventing amputations with our tripartite partners, The Council will also produce and disseminate videos on safe machinery. This adds to the suite of materials, including guidelines, case studies, safety cards and safety posters, that are already available on the WSH Council website.”
“In 2015 and 2016, there were 96 and 92 cases of slips, trips and falls accidents in kitchens and food preparation areas. One of them resulted in a fatality while workers in the remaining cases sustained minor injuries. These cases represent approximately 3% of all the slips, trips and falls cases due to workplace accidents in Singapore. The Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Council is working with the National Environment Agency and SkillsFuture Singapore to include a topic on kitchen safety in the revised Workforce Skills Qualification Basic Food Hygiene Course and Food Hygiene Officer Course by the end of this year. The additional topic would include case studies on the common safety and health hazards encountered in kitchens. In addition, educational materials, such as guidelines, safety posters and an Activity-Based-Checklist for slips, trips and falls, are available on the WSH Council website to help companies put in place safety measures to reduce slips, trips and falls in kitchen and food preparation areas. The Council and the tripartite partners will continue to work closely together to promote awareness of good safety practices in kitchen and food preparation areas.”
“From 2011 to 2016, the average weekly paid overtime hours worked per employee fell from 3.7 hours to 3.3 hours1. This is due to the drop in average weekly paid overtime hours worked by employees mainly in the Manufacturing, Administrative and Support Services, and Transportation and Storage sectors. There are a number of reasons for this decline productivity improvements and tripartite effort to reduce the excessive overtime hours to ensure workers have sufficient rest. Economic transformation has also led to an increasing proportion of managers and executives in our workforce who are not eligible for paid overtime. This decrease in paid overtime hours is in step with the overall trend of declining average usual hours worked per week. It has also been accompanied by continued growth in real median income of 3.1% per year from 2011 to 20162.”
“The rapid pace of technological change and keen global competition will continue to drive the faster pace of economic restructuring globally as well as here at home. To minimise mismatches in manpower supply and demand, we have identified and will continue to identify new skills needed for our people to remain employable. This is done through formulation of the Industry Transformation Maps (ITMs) and Skills Frameworks for 23 major sectors in our economy. The respective ITMs and Skills Frameworks will be released progressively when completed. Our approach is to be nimble and responsive as industries transform, so as to help workers and companies stay relevant and seize opportunities in the future economy. Under the Adapt and Grow initiative, training and wage support are provided to help jobseekers overcome mismatches in skills, jobs or expectations. There are also career matching services to address "missed matches" by connecting jobseekers with job opportunities. The Ministry of Manpower and Workforce Singapore (WSG) have also stepped up efforts to help jobseekers get timely information and advice on job opportunities. For example, WSG recently launched Careers Connect to provide jobseekers with an expanded suite of customised career counselling and matching services. We will also be transforming the National Jobs Bank into an online jobs marketplace to better enable various groups of jobseekers to find suitable opportunities. In addition, WSG is proactively reaching out to workers who have been retrenched. The implementation of mandatory retrenchment notifications since 1 January 2017 has enabled WSG to provide affected local workers with more timely assistance to find alternative employment and relevant training to enhance their employability.”
“However, our partners are not required to develop transactional MOM e-services as these are already available on the MOM website. Instead, they may provide the links to these e-services if they find it to be useful and attractive to their targeted users. These commercial apps are fully owned by our private sector partners. The partnership is not exclusive. We have signed MOUs with two app developers who saw the mutual benefits of such a partnership. Since June, we have received more than 30 enquiries from interested parties. Among them, eight have submitted proposals which we are currently evaluating.”
“MOM called for partnership with the private sector to jointly reach out to more foreign workers through existing or new mobile apps in January 2017. There is no payment involved as it is a win-win partnership for both parties. To help foreign workers better understand their employment rights as well as responsibilities under the work permit conditions, MOM disseminates such information through various outreach platforms, including the MOM website, guidebooks and collaterals given out at our Services Centre, dormitories and roadshows. We also produce videos for use at our engagement events. However, with the increasing use of smart phones and mobile apps, there is scope for us to leverage on this growing mode of communication to expand our outreach to the foreign workers. Instead of developing our own mobile apps which will only include Government contents, we are partnering with owners and developers of mobile apps to provide a fuller suite of services that may be more effective in meeting the needs of the various target groups of foreign workers. On our part, we bring several benefits to the partnership. These include packaging and tailoring of information relevant to the needs of the foreign workers targeted by the respective apps; translating the information into native languages, such as Bengali, Tamil and Chinese; sharing our findings on the mobile usage behaviour of foreign workers as well as their online interests and preferences. In addition, given our extensive touchpoints and outreach channels with the foreign workers community, MOM can assist in creating greater awareness of the apps. To enable foreign workers to send in comments on how to improve the app or to report on employment-related issues, our partnership requires the inclusion of a feedback module.”