Zaqy Mohamad
Singapore
“Deputy Speaker, may I seek your consent and the general assent of Members present to move that the Question Time at this day's Sitting be exempted from Standing Order No 22(1) so as to enable questions for oral answer to continue until the completion of Question Nos 7 to 29, including relevant supplementary questions, until 12.45 pm?”
“Mr Speaker, may I seek your consent and the general assent of Members present to move that the proceedings on the item under discussion be exempted from the provisions of Standing Order No 48(8) to remove the time limit in respect of the Minister Tan See Leng's speech, please?”
“I think on the hawker front, we keep our rentals as low as possible to sustain our hawkers. But for food prices, we continue to monitor. My colleague, Minister of State Gan mentioned about how we are monitoring food supply of food prices, and I think that we will continue to do so.”
“I thank the Member for his question. On seafood specifically, we do not see immediate risk. We have diversified our food imports. We have also got local production of seafood readily available. At this point, as both the Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister have shared, our main risk for agriculture lies in fertiliser.”
“Mr Speaker, as I shared, we are monitoring the situation. The Government is monitoring at this point. There is no need at this juncture, because we have not seen the price hikes hit the hawkers in the same way as yet. There will be downstream impact. I think that is quite sure.”
“For us to also look into buying local produce, that helps our farms to increase capacity at this point, helps them build resilience over time and should there be disruptions or should there be a need for us to divert supplies or look to ramp up local production, I think they would be in a better position if we do what we can today to supp…”
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“Mdm Deputy Speaker, may I seek your consent to move, "That the debate be now adjourned." [(proc text) Resolved, "That the debate be now adjourned." – [Mr Zaqy Mohamad]. (proc text)]”
“Mdm Deputy Speaker, on behalf of the Leader, may I seek your consent and the general assent of Members present to move a motion to take the proceedings on the business set down on the Order Paper for today beyond the moment of interruption?”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, may I seek your consent to move, "That the debate be now adjourned."”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, on behalf of Leader, may I seek your consent and the general assent of Members to move a Motion to take the proceedings on the business set down on the Order Paper for today beyond the moment of interruption, please?”
“On the Member's second point, whether we will measure this, certainly, every programme has got its objectives, targets, goals and KPIs and the various agencies, I am sure, will track the efficacy of each individual programme. But for us to track every single mental health issue at the workplace, this would be quite challenging, for example, trying to track MCs, how do you do that for individual workplaces? The second challenge would be this: when you deal with mental health, the root cause may not necessarily be from the workplace too. You do need to ascertain that the root causes are at work and whether we can deal with it better at work, for example. But there are also cases, for example, where the root causes may be stressors at work and carried into work. This is where some of the recommendations from the upcoming guidelines could help such as providing counselling, access to counsellors, or additional measures where companies can make counselling accessible to employees or make the workplace less stressful or adapting to their challenges. These are some of the measures that we can take at the workplace. This is an evolving area in which I think many of us, whether it is Government, whether it is the employers, are closely monitoring, given the fact that we do have to better understand the workplace stressors that our employees face, and especially today, under COVID-19 conditions.”
“I thank the Member for his questions. I think it relates to two parts. First, whether these programmes will be made mandatory. We are promoting and taking a very promotional approach to mental health awareness amongst employers. We are taking good steps, especially with the new advisory that we are putting out later this year to help employers understand some of the best practices out there, to put out guidelines that are agreeable between both the employers as well as the unions and the workers or the tripartite movement, putting together some of these learnings that we have had over the past few years and what works within a workplace. On whether to make it mandatory, I think the challenge would be that every workplace is different. There are different work stressors at different workplaces too. And that is one of the reasons why we are rolling out the iWorkHealth pilot which is an assessment tool that MOM has developed with various partners to help companies understand the work stressors, for example, so that they can better understand how they can help workers cope with mental health issues and what are some of these stress points that cause mental issues at work. But overall, if you look at the framework today, the Workplace Safety and Health Act already requires employers to take reasonably practical measures to uphold employees' health, including their mental health. Under the Act alone, there are certain obligation when employers will take care of their workers. And therefore, to some extent, there is safeguards in place to ensure that employers take this quite seriously.”
“For example, NCSS funds the Singapore Anglican Community Services to provide training and advisory support to employers and co-workers in creating an inclusive and supportive work environment. NCSS also organises a multi-year public education campaign called Beyond the Label to address stigma faced by persons living with mental health conditions in Singapore. This year's campaign encourages working adults who are affected by mental health distress to seek mental health support early. We are also encouraged to note that companies have stepped forward to take action in promoting workplace mental health. For instance, the WorkWell Leaders network organises regular meetings among corporate leaders to discuss ways to improve workplace mental health. NCSS also has a Peer Support Specialist Programme that trains individuals who have recovered from mental health issues as Peer Support Specialists to support others in their recovery. MOM will continue to work with our partners to educate and gain the support of employers to further promote workers' mental well-being at the workplace.”
“Mr Speaker, MOM has been working closely with the social and health agencies, tripartite partners and other stakeholders to provide greater support for mental wellness at the workplace. We released an advisory on supporting mental well-being of workers under COVID-19 work arrangements in April this year. We will be releasing a Tripartite Advisory on Workers’ Mental Well-being later this year. The Tripartite Advisory will provide practical guidance to employers on good workplace practices to promote workers’ mental well-being. There are existing programmes and resources that employers can tap on to help them implement mental wellness programmes at the workplace. For instance, HPB provides Management Training workshops to equip managers and HR professionals with knowledge and skills to be supportive leaders at the workplace. Companies can also tap on HPB's Workplace Outreach Wellness or WOW Package to co-fund and implement health promotion programmes, such as mental wellness workshops for their staff. To date, about 37,000 working adults have benefited from HPB's mental wellness programmes. There is also the iWorkHealth online self-assessment tool developed by MOM, IMH, HPB, Workplace Safety and Health Council and CGH to help companies identify common workplace stressors. The tool is currently piloted by a group of companies and will be fully rolled out next year, that is, 2021. There are also many community resources in place to support individual workers who need emotional and psychological help. Various agencies, such as NCSS, the Agency for Integrated Care or AIC, and MSF work with social service agencies to provide services, such as counselling and mental health resources.”
“Mr Speaker, may I seek your consent and the general assent of Members present to move that the proceedings on the item under discussion be exempted from the provisions of Standing Order No 48(8) to remove the time limit in respect of Minister Edwin Tong's speech?”
“That translates to about 30% or one-third of an older worker's salary, which studies have shown, has motivated some of our seniors to go back to work or continue working because they get the extra boost from Workfare to supplement their incomes.”
“Mr Speaker, I thank the Member for her questions. Since WIS was first introduced, we have made significant adjustments to the payout quantums across all age bands. With the WIS Enhancement recently done – just made in January this year – the maximum WIS payout would be, for a 45-year-old, for example, about $2,500. This is more than double the payout of such workers in 2007 when we first introduced WIS. From the example here, it does show that we revise and take into account inflation and consider how we can better make Workfare more meaningful for our workers. I can understand the Member's question, in terms of whether we can lower the age criterion and make payouts to those below 35 years old. But really, the target of WIS and if you look at the profile of those receiving WIS as I had mentioned earlier, more than half are on the older side. This is because the younger workers have got the potential; they are more educated; they have more skills upgrading opportunities. Therefore, there is that potential which we want to help through. But of course, I do understand some are single parents, for example, and some have to take care of family and other issues and have other concerns and challenges in the home. This is where our whole-of-Government efforts come into play – whether it is ComCare for social support, Financial Assistance Schemes in school to help their kids through school too. These are ways in which we help them. For worker support, this is where Workfare makes a difference especially for the older workers to beef up and pump up. I am glad the Member noted that the maximum amount that we had given before 2020 was about $3,000-plus.”
“Mr Speaker, I was just checking with the Member again because I just referred to his quote before. There was a $1,300 gross wage and now he is saying $1,300 take-home. I appreciate his questions for this Parliamentary Question and I have given the answer as to why you do not separate your CPF, for example, from your salary. Because your CPF clearly provides for amounts of money that you pay for your mortgage and pay for your homes. Many of our Workfare recipients, many of our low-income workers own their own homes as a result of the CPF. To some extent, you have got Government subsidies but you also have CPF flow-through that enables many of our low-income workers to own homes. So, that is income too and that is also a recognition by the employer for the ability for workers to earn and that is why we talk about gross wages typically. Generally, figures are what we pick up from statistics and this is how we do it. It is the benchmark, not just by ILO, but Minimum Wage benchmarks around the world too use a similar definition of using tax and social pensions and social security systems as part of the wage. If we keep to the convention, it is easier to make for good meaningful benchmarks and discussions and debates, in the future. Could I just confirm once again that the Workers' Party's $1,300 Minimum Wage benchmark is gross income, so that we could settle this and come to an understanding.”
“Mr Speaker, I think the Member is evading the question because I have shown that in the manifesto, it was $1,300 mentioned. In the last few debates too, the same figure was mentioned but in different definitions. So, I think the root of the issue now is the Workers' Party changed its definition for its Minimum Wage line. Assoc Prof Jamus Jerome Lim: Let me be clear. I do not think I was evading the question because I think the Senior Minister of State Zaqy Mohamad imputed an inference of the $1,300 take-home pay was what the question was asking. I think that the Workers' Party's position has been consistent and that it was about $1,300 in terms of full-time work. But this particular question was about take-home pay, in part, because it is about what it means for survival in the case of Singapore. That is why I do not think that I am actually evading the question because I think that an inference of what I was asking in the question was actually attributed to be, whereas I did not make them.”
“Given the statements put out recently and in line with ILO's definition of earnings to include contributions to social security and international conventions of Minimum Wage to be before tax deductions and social security contributions, could I ask the Member to clarify what is the Minimum Wage level that the Workers' Party is proposing. Because I think it is useful for us to all have this same level of benchmark now, so we can have meaningful debates in the future.”
“That also implies tax as well as social security, your pensions, your CPF. This means that that Minimum Wage levels are also before deductions. Given this these considerations, it would not be meaningful nor accurate to consider income according to the parameters of the Member's query. In fact, I would like to turn the question around to the Member and ask for clarification of the Workers' Party's position on the Minimum Wage level that it is advocating for. According to the Workers' Party manifesto 2020, it calls for all working Singaporeans to receive a minimum take-home wage of $1,300 per month for full-time work and pro-rated for part-time work. Yet, in the September 2020 Debate on the President's Address, Member Assoc Prof Jamus Lim suggest that the appropriate Minimum Wage levels should be – well, he was suggesting that we should have a national commission to determine this. Thereafter, in October 2020, in the Ministerial Statement just last month, Member Assoc Prof Jamus Lim said that the Workers' Party is proposing a Minimum Wage of $1,300. Member Mr Pritam Singh also asked Member Mr Edward Chia, if he would be agreeable to pay the 32,000 workers $1,300 as a business employer. Both these statements suggest a gross Minimum Wage of $1,300 per month. But Member Assoc Prof Jamus Lim's current query seem to suggest that the Workers' Party is now proposing for a minimum take-home pay of $1,300. That is a shift in where the line is. If this is the case, then the gross wage inclusive of CPF contributions should be higher – between $1,600 and $1,700, thereabouts.”
“Sir, I thank the Member for his clarification. On this, I just want to reiterate that the holistic understanding of Singapore's system, of how we use personal income including CPF and Workfare income payouts. CPF is part of income too, as these can be used for necessities. Workfare Income Scheme or WIS gives you cash. As for CPF, I think many of us use it for housing and healthcare. I think it is worth it to note that 75% of our Workfare recipients, lower income workers, also own their own homes and therefore there is a direct impact from CPF into your home ownership. That is still income which, in other countries, you would have had to use your cash to pay for your own homes or mortgages. In line with the International Labour Organization (ILO) – so this is not a pure Singapore definition – if you think about the alignment, the concept and definition of gross earnings, the data collected is before tax deductions and inclusive of CPF contributions. If you use the ILO statistics of earnings for example, they define to include social security, pension schemes, insurance premiums, union dues and other obligations of the employees. So, this is how it is done internationally. Therefore, we keep the same conventions because it provides a meaningful comparisons and benchmarks. Calculations to exclude CPF contributions, as asked by the Member, how do you do that? Or deduction of other incomes will require various other assumptions. For instance, income tax deductions will differ based on individual profiles, and some do get different sorts of reliefs for example. Moreover, almost all the Minimum Wage systems internationally including in the US, UK, Netherlands, Germany, South Korea, Spain also stipulate that Minimum Wages are subject to taxes and social security contributions.”
“If you have four persons at home, you have household income of more than $5,200 per month. Therefore, half of this group have alternative means of support and which also suggests that they are not the primary breadwinners of the household and have other means of support too. In short, of these 30,000 Singaporean employees who still earn less than $1,300 a month today, half of them are staying in households where they are not the primary breadwinners and have others in the household providing income support. The majority of these 30,000 employees have low education and work as clerks, F&B workers, cleaners and shop salespersons. And more than one third are older Singaporeans at higher risks of disemployment, while the other one third of them are youths on vacation jobs. Besides the monthly Workfare Income Supplement wage top-up they would already receive, this group of 30,000 Singaporeans will continue to be supported by the Workfare Skills Support scheme that will enable them to upskill and earn higher wages, and by other schemes such as the Silver Support, ComCare, GST voucher and U-Save rebates for their daily and medical needs as well as retirement needs in the future. Additionally, the Government will continue to raise the standards of living for low-wage workers in other meaningful ways such as providing access to quality healthcare, enhance housing grants and subsidies to help them own their own homes, education for their children and adequate support in retirement.”
“I thank the Member for his clarification. The first question was 32,000 and now, I have reported 30,000. I suspect Mr Liang was referring to Member Dr Koh Poh Koon's speech last month when he cited 32,000. The difference is because, when we run reports, our labour statistics is based on resident statistics. Here, the Member, Assoc Prof Jamus Lim asked about Singaporeans, so that is the difference between resident profile and the Singaporean statistics. On the Member's question about the profile of the 30,000 workers, among the 30,000 employees are office clerks, F&B workers, cleaners, shop salespersons as well as several other smaller groups of occupations. Many of them have lower education profiles, of which four in five have post-Secondary qualifications and below, while half of them have Secondary education and below. More than third of them are aged 50 and above, which reflects an older profile who have less access to higher education as compared to the current generation. They are also potentially at a higher risk of disemployment and are likely to face greater difficulties in finding jobs, if they are displaced. So, they are less skilled and therefore more at risk at finding jobs in the current climate. Notably a third of them are youths aged between 15 and 24. Some of us have been there before; they are in vacation jobs. It is also useful to consider another group in terms of the existing household support. Out of this group of 30,000 full-time Singaporean employees, half of them live in households with household income per capita above $1,300. Basically, per capita income implies that if you have two persons living in the home, you probably have a household income of more than $2,600.”
“In the past three years, an average of about 400,000 individuals receive Workfare annually. About 11% are aged 35 to 44, 21% are aged 45 to 54, and 18% are aged 55 to 59. Slightly less than half, or 49% of all Workfare recipients are aged 60 and above. During the same period, the average Workfare payout received annually was about $1,560, while the maximum was $3,600. The Government will continue to provide holistic support to low-wage workers. Besides Workfare and the schemes already mentioned, there are also efforts to raise standards of living for low-wage workers in other meaningful ways, such as providing access to quality healthcare, enhanced housing grants and subsidies to help them own their own homes, education for their children and adequate support in their retirement.”
“I will repeat the answer again. Sir, the International Labour Organization or ILO’s definition of earnings includes contributions of employees to social security and pension schemes. Singapore’s approach is broadly aligned with the ILO and considers personal income to include the Central Provident Fund or CPF contributions and the Workfare Income Supplement or WIS payouts, as these can be used for necessities including healthcare and housing. In particular, Workfare provides cash supplements and CPF top-ups to encourage eligible lower wage Singaporean workers to work regularly and build up their CPF savings. CPF contributions and top-ups also go towards retirement savings. Including Workfare and CPF contributions, there are about 30,000 full-time employees among Singaporeans receiving less than $1,300 per month; likewise, for 22,000 self-employed persons. These lower wage workers also receive further support from the Government, such as Silver Support, ComCare, GST vouchers and U-Save rebates. Workfare remains a key pillar of social security for Singaporean lower wage workers. Studies have consistently shown that Workfare has been effective in motivating less educated Singaporeans, particularly those in the older age groups, to enter and stay in the workforce. This is important as workforce participation is key to supplementing their household incomes and their ability to save for retirement. Workfare has been regularly reviewed since its launch in 2007. The qualifying income ceiling and payouts for Workfare were raised on four occasions to ensure continued support for deserving workers. From 2007 to 2019, over $6.8 billion has been disbursed to 890,000 unique lower wage workers.”
“Yes, Speaker, I will take both questions together.”
“Mr Speaker, the International Labour Organization or ILO’s definition of earnings includes contributions of employees to social security and pension schemes. Singapore’s approach is broadly aligned with the ILO and considers personal income to include —”
“Mr Speaker, these points were all answered earlier on by Senior Minister of State Dr Koh Poh Koon so I shall not repeat them.”
“So, let me put it to the Member again that, yes, we do have a similar system, the tripartite negotiation but we are a much smaller country and you cannot say that our wages do not increase. It is one thing to say that the system has not worked. On the other hand, I put forth the numbers to show that the system has. So, if you tell me that the low-wage workers have stagnated in the last 10 years, I say the numbers show otherwise. I think it is not just about academia or theory out here. It is real practitioners talking here. We have worked the system, we have worked and the unions have worked the ground too, employers have been working with us and our system works too. So, we all have our uniqueness but the issue here is: is our system working? Have the wages of our lowest 10%, for example, if I take it to that level, has it gone up? Yes, there will be some but this is an area we have to look at and that is why the Government is serious. We have put in the Tripartite Workgroup for Low-wage Workers specifically to see how we can do better in uplifting our low-wage workers.”
“I do have to also reiterate the fact once again because the Workers' Party tends to forget this in its deliberations always that our system works in tandem as a holistic system, it is a whole system. It is not just PWM but Workfare that we use to top up. I also said we use Silver Support. I think many of your residents too would have enjoyed Silver Support in their old age. This is exactly the profile that needs the most help and we top up the income so that they are not left behind. And that is why I think it is important that beyond putting studies, showing analyses, meta analyses and what have you, but really getting down on the ground, working in consensus meet the employers too and making sure that the downsides are managed and do not impact our lowest skilled workers who are likely at risk when it comes to job loss. So, the risk of disemployment is something that we are very sensitive to and that is why we have the Tripartite Workgroup on the Low-wage Workers. We need to study this quite carefully as we chart the path ahead. So, it is not just something simple, you could do it within a short span of time without understanding the impacts, the consequences for our low-wage workers. So, we have to be very careful. So, it is not about academic and studies but, really, lives of Singaporeans and how we want to uplift our low-wage workers.”
“First, I thank the Member Jamus Lim for his, I suppose, clarification. The point I made earlier was that this is not about studies and not about particular studies actually. It is about this, the studies being hotly contested and the academia, I think you can throw studies to each other and we can never come to conclusive position. So, I think this is about how we have applied, how we have also shown how wages have grown and I have shared the examples earlier, where our low-wage workers have seen wage growth – 30% in the last five years without Minimum Wage. Or actually, we did have Minimum Wage through our PWM or Minimum Wage Plus to some extent. So, conceptually, ideologically, we have clearly said that we are not against one idea or the other. We can throw studies at each other and, like I said, it is hotly contested, even among academia. What is important is this: that we want to reap the maximum benefits of what these studies have shown and how others have applied it. I have also shared others, like in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, have also shown strong, social solidarity without implementation of a single Minimum Wage, using the same approach that we have had – using sectoral consensus to make sure that we have uplifted our low-wage workers. Studies aside, \what we have to look at is our local context. Has the current system work? So, I have shown that at the 10th percentile, as I said in my speech earlier, we have seen wage growth. At the 10th percentile, it was $1,000 10 years ago; it is now $1,500-plus. We have seen a 50% wage growth in the last 10 years for the lowest income threshold.”
“We have already been exercising flexibility in the qualifying criteria to support more self-employed persons, or SEPs. About two in three unique applications have been approved. And for the remaining one third, applicants may have been earning much higher incomes, they could have resided in higher value properties, or own two or more properties with their spouses. As SIRS was intended to support SEPs, employees who lost their jobs or experienced income loss were redirected to the COVID-19 Support Grant. Where there were other areas of need, we have referred unsuccessful applicants to the appropriate agencies for follow-up assistance. On the suggestion by Mr Saktiandi Supaat to allow citizens in need to tap on their CPF balances early, as announced by Deputy Prime Minister Heng in August, the Government is studying appropriate ways to provide support to working Singaporeans, including SEPs, in the event of prolonged loss of income, beyond existing schemes. Mr Speaker, in this debate, Members have raised a broad range of suggestions to address the needs of almost every worker segment. We take these ideas seriously and will study them closely; rest assured. MOM will continue to make every effort to ensure that Singapore and Singaporeans are not just able to tide over the immediate challenge ahead of us, but also are set in good stead for the future beyond that. [Applause.]”
“So, on top of the wages that they get, Government supports them with a slew of measures to uplift their income to support their homes. It is also important to inculcate care and respect for our low-wage workers. So, our measures go beyond just wages. With Workcare, we will improve low-wage workers' working environments in appreciation for their work, such as through the provision of proper rest areas for outsourced workers. I think the question would be this – can we be a nation with a strong social compact but without Minimum Wage? When we think of countries with high standards of living, strong social policies, and with good and advanced economies like us, we often think of Scandinavian countries like Norway, Denmark and Sweden. Like Singapore, these countries do not have a single Minimum Wage, and yet they still have vibrant, cohesive societies. In place of a single Minimum Wage, these countries have robust dialogues between stakeholders, resulting in collective agreements on wages at the sectoral level. This is akin to our sectoral tripartite approach in our existing PWMs and future tripartite efforts. The Tripartite Workgroup for our low-wage workers, will be studying this important issue with an open mind. They will work to refresh the consensus on what works best for our low-wage workers, and to ensure that more of our low-wage workers can benefit. Mr Ang Wei Neng and Mr Dennis Tan have asked about the criteria for SIRS. In the first two tranches of SIRS, we have disbursed over $1.1 billion. With the third and final tranches, SIRS is expected to cost $2 billion in total, almost double the original $1.2 billion set aside. This is a significant expansion of an already sizeable programme. Altogether, about 195,000 individuals have received support under SIRS.”
“For example, Harasztosi and Lindner found that the disemployment effects due to increases in Minimum Wage in Hungary were considerably larger in the tradeable and exporting sectors than in the non-tradeable or service sector. Others, such as economists Meer and West have shown in their research in the United States that Minimum Wage may not cause immediately disemployment effects, but still impact job growth. Some studies, when you look at it, they relate to disemployment from the averages perspective. But I think it is also important when you look at some of this evidence, the preponderance of evidence show that low-skilled workers are actually most at risk when you talk about job loss. So, we need to deal with the specifics. Look at the natures of our profile of low-wage workers in Singapore and the nature of how this would affect them in specifics. We are not ideologically against Minimum Wage, PWM or what have you, but I think what we want is the best from each of these systems that will benefit Singapore, benefit our low-wage workers; but at the same time, we avoid the downsides and the trade-offs. This is very important for us and that is why we take a very serious view on disemployment. Our sense of solidarity with our low-wage workers also goes beyond wages. We have taken a careful and practical approach to implement a holistic suite of measures: Workfare that tops up the income of low-wage workers by up to 30% and provides targeted training support that supports better employment outcomes. I think it is important that we support them beyond just the wages, and we also have Special Employment Credit to offset their wages and improve their employability. Silver Support is also provided to support retirement adequacy.”
“This Government and our tripartite partners stand in solidarity with our low-wage workers. Our approach has worked. It has worked. We are progressively narrowing the gap between the incomes of our low-wage workers, and those in the middle. In the three sectors where the PWM has been implemented, real incomes have increased by around 30% in recent years, outstripping the 21% of real income growth at the median across all sectors. As for the overall workforce – that means those with PWM and those without PWM collectively – real incomes of our full-time employed resident workers at the 20th percentile have also increased cumulatively more than the median. The incomes of our 10th percentile full-time resident workers today, currently stands at $1,517. One decade ago, the incomes of this percentile of workers was at $1,000. This amounts to a 50% increase over the last decade. There has certainly been progress, if you look at our measures and how the whole eco-system works. But more importantly, we have done so, while keeping unemployment low for years, up till COVID-19 broke out early this year. The risk of disemployment is a key factor that the Government is very sensitive to. With regard to literature, the fact is that the jury is still out there. Economists have not conclusively found that Minimum Wage will not create disemployment. In fact, I am told it is a very hotly contested area and economists continue to debate this issue. Recent studies have found that the range of estimates for the disemployment effect of Minimum Wage is wide. Moreover, studies have shown that the disemployment effects could be stronger for certain groups of workers.”
“At the Work Permit and S Pass level, we cut the services quota from 40% to 38% and the S Pass quota from 15% to 13% in 2020, and this will be further reduced to 35% and 10% respectively in 2021, that is, next year. We will also cut S Pass quotas for the construction, process and marine shipyard sectors from 20% to 15% from 2021 to 2023. At the Employment Pass or EP level, MOM has also tightened the framework recently. This is why we raised the salary hurdle – to nudge employers towards better quality. And this also means that applicants who do not meet the higher hurdles must come under the S Pass framework, where there are quota controls. We have extended the job advertising duration from 14 to 28 days. When assessing EP and S Pass applications, we will place additional emphasis on efforts made by employers to build up and retain a strong Singaporean Core. We also regularly take employers to task for pre-selecting foreign candidates and disregarding qualified local candidates. This year alone, 90 employers have had their work pass privileges suspended because of infringements under the FCF. We will also be engaging an expanded group of employers to review their hiring practices, including firms whose Singaporean Core has been weakening, or whose EP and S Pass workforce are also overly concentrated from a single foreign nationality source. Members such as NTUC Deputy Secretary-General Koh Poh Koon earlier have spoken passionately on supporting our lower wage workers. We all share the same aspirations in this House. As various Members have also spoken earlier in clarification of Dr Koh's speech, we do not want any Singaporean to be left behind. We want to uplift and care for our fellow workers as best as we can.”
“Open to fresh graduates and mid-career switchers, successful applicants are employed full-time, typically on a two-year basis, and will receive structured on-the-job training, preparing them to take up roles in the economy once we recover. Miss Cheryl Chan has also pointed out that our upskilling and reskilling strategies need to take into account certain vulnerable groups, such as special needs individuals, and we agree fully. The Open Door Programme helps PwDs enter suitable jobs and integrate them into the workplace by providing support for job placement, training and cost of job redesign. The Open Door Programme training grant was recently enhanced in July, with more course fee subsidies of up to 95% and training allowance of $6/hr, as well as a new training commitment award of $100 per completed eligible training course. The training courses are curated to ensure that they equip our PwDs with industry-relevant skills. This includes courses in software and technical design skills, and courses that help PwDs work in emerging sectors like logistics, or in new jobs that may involve automation. There are also customised Train and Place Programmes for specialised jobs. And looking ahead, SG Enable is also working to expand courses in sectors with long-term growth opportunities, such as healthcare, education, banking and finance and computing. On our foreign Work Pass policies, there was already an intense debate last month. So, I will just summarise some of the points that were brought up by Members. The Government will continue to make adjustments to calibrate the flow, keeping in mind Mr Liang Eng Hwa's reminder not to over rely on foreign manpower. To that end, we update our foreign worker policies on a regular basis.”
“I have already mentioned that the JGI will provide higher salary support for new mature local hires – double that, compared to non-mature hires. Moreover, under the SkillsFuture Mid-Career Support Package introduced in the Unity Budget earlier this year, we have ramped up our career conversion programmes to more than 14,000 places this year. This aims to support mid-career jobseekers in reskilling for new occupations in sectors with good long-term prospects. We have also boosted the salary support for all workers aged 40 and above who are enrolled in career conversion programmes, in particular, for non-PMETs, from 70% to 90%. This year alone, our career conversion programmes have helped 6,100 mid-career jobseekers to acquire new skills and switch into new occupations. These include close to 100 Professional Conversion Programmes or PCPs, covering across 30 sectors, and specialised career conversion programmes under the Tech Skills Accelerator or TeSA for the ICT sector. For mid-career jobseekers who may not be able to secure a job straightaway, the SGUnited Mid-Career Pathways Programme provides attachment opportunities hosted by companies. These opportunities provide jobseekers with valuable industry-relevant experience and help them to build up their skillsets and networks, while receiving an allowance. The Government will co-fund 80% of the training allowances for trainees under these programmes, while the organisations fund the remaining 20%. The public sector has also introduced a Work and Skills Immersion Programme in capability areas, such as ICT, food science and technology, social services and healthcare sector.”
“We are heartened to hear Mr Liang Eng Hwa sharing that his constituents have found this to be helpful and that many were able to secure jobs after going to these centres. That being said, when so many businesses are restructuring, mismatches in jobs and skills must be expected. We recognise the tremendous adjustments needed by both jobseekers and employers to give each other a chance even if they do not look like perfect fits. Many jobseekers have shown such courage and resilience. Around 39% of workers retrenched in the first quarter of 2020 had re-entered employment by June 2020. Of these, seven in 10 re-entered employment within a month of being retrenched and five in 10 possessed transferrable skills that enabled them to switch to a different industry. For jobseekers who are prepared to take the leap to change vocation or join a new sector, our career conversion programmes and company-hosted traineeships and attachments can help to make this switch easier. At the same time, we are also seeing businesses changing their mindsets. Instead of looking only for jobseekers who already have the experience and skills, businesses often find that when they widen their search, they find good candidates. The Government has been working closely with such forward-thinking companies in the private sector. And in doing so, these companies have created new opportunities for Singaporeans while placing themselves in a good position for economic recovery. Mr Yip Hon Weng has highlighted that mature workers aged 40 and above are likely to face greater difficulties in making a career switch. We are aware and recognise the challenges this group of jobseekers face.”
“The number of committed opportunities is based on approved places under the various SGUnited Jobs and Skills programmes, such as, one, career conversion programmes, traineeships, company attachments and training courses; two, public sector and other Government-funded jobs; and three, private sector jobs that are advertised on the national MyCareersFuture.sg jobs portal. There are opportunities in almost every sector. Not surprisingly, the key contributors are growth sectors, such as information and communications, healthcare, professional services, finance and insurance and manufacturing. Examples of jobs in the top five sectors include: software, web and multimedia developers, nursing professionals, management and business consultants, financial analysts and engineering professionals. But I should also point out that even in sectors badly-hit by COVID-19, there is hiring. In tourism and retail, for example, business models are changing fast. Employers see a need to reskill existing staff as well as to bring in fresh talent. It is, therefore, important not to write them off. To help our local jobseekers access and get more information on the available jobs and skills opportunities, Workforce Singapore (WSG) has organised various career workshops, seminars and walk-in interviews, reaching about 38,800 individuals between July and September 2020. We have also brought career matching services closer to the heartlands. So, we have launched the SGUnited Jobs and Skills Centres in phases since early July and, by end-August, one had been set up across all 24 HDB towns. Although all satellite career centres were only in operation from end-August, Career Ambassadors have advised around 4,200 jobseekers by now.”
“Well before the JSS phases out, we have introduced the Jobs Growth Incentive or JGI. The JGI will provide salary support for businesses which bring forward their hiring plans and hire more locals. Eligible employers will receive up to 25% of the first $5,000 of gross monthly wages, or $15,000 for up to 12 months, for new local hires aged below 40. For each new mature local hire aged 40 and above and for all persons with disabilities or PwDs, Government support is doubled to 50%. Thus far, we have committed $1 billion to this initiative, and we encourage more firms to make use of the JGI to expand hiring. The SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package is our key push to help our workers to enter new jobs. Where this is not yet possible, we are helping jobseekers to acquire the skills that will put them in a stronger position when the economy begins to recover. It pools together jobs and training opportunities for Singaporeans across the public and private sectors. Under this Package, we have curated 117,500 jobs as at end-August, including jobs, company-hosted traineeships, attachments and training opportunities and training places. With the exception of SGUnited Traineeships which are designed for fresh and recent graduates, these opportunities are all open to mid-career individuals. More than 33,000 jobseekers have been placed into SGUnited Jobs and Skills opportunities. Mr Saktiandi Supaat asked about how the Government determines the number of job opportunities available under the SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package and the job roles created by the top hiring sectors. We have been putting out the total number of committed opportunities available under the SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package in our weekly Job Situation Report.”
“Mr Speaker, Members of the House, MOM understands that Singaporeans have been through much hardship over the past few months. Many Members have spoken on the challenges and concerns of our workers across all segments. Our infection rates have gone down and we have been able to proceed with the slow and steady re-opening of our economy. Yet, it would be a mistake to think that we are going back to pre-COVID-19 norms. As other speakers in this House have observed, it is unlikely that things will be the same again. Many industries will take time to recover and, when they do, they will look quite different from what it is now. The way we work has already changed and will continue to change. For instance, companies and workers alike have had to adapt to telecommuting. Not all these changes are bad. On the contrary, the pandemic has spurred the pace of digitalisation, upskilling and improving the resilience of our workforce and supply chains. The Government has put in place substantial effort and resources to help our businesses and workers deal with the impact of the pandemic. For example, we have provided extensive support to businesses through the Jobs Support Scheme, with wage subsidies of 75% to help businesses retain workers. Deputy Prime Minister has announced that this support will be extended until next March. Right now, our focus must be to help our businesses and our workers to emerge stronger from this crisis and to seize new opportunities ahead. We should work on the basis that short-term relief measures will continually and eventually taper off. This is why economic agencies under MTI as well as agencies that lead the ITM sectors, such as MAS and IMDA, are intensifying efforts on job creation. MOM and WSG will work with these agencies to support employment.”
“Indeed, Mr Speaker, the Member has pointed out that markets are certainly dynamic and businesses will often make decisions based on what makes business sense. So, it is important for our economy to continue to be relevant, to continue to be conducive, stable and to ensure that our companies remain, jobs continue to grow and we create new jobs and new opportunities for Singaporeans. But what it also means is that we need to help our workers stay relevant, skilled, to remain competitive so that these jobs are not substituted or moved overseas so easily. Therefore, I think that the whole eco-system needs to be worked on and this is where the Labour Movement plays an important role, working with the Government, especially on our SGUnited Jobs and Skills programmes. One of aspect of the programmes is to upskill workers, work on job matching, trying to garner and harness some of trends out there and see where the emerging growth areas are. But more importantly, apart from just providing opportunities and job matching, it is also helping workers get the right skillsets, working with companies to redesign jobs, to help us move up the value chain. Beyond that, I think it is still important for the Government to keep an eye on growing the economy. Because ultimately, the stronger our eco-system is, the more rooted companies will be here; and for the more rooted, the jobs will be here despite remote working being a trend.”
“With limited land and manpower, we no longer compete on cost alone but on productivity, connectivity and ability to support business innovation. However, with each potential new disruption, we cannot take our relevance as a given. The effort to transform our economy must continue, to retain a competitive edge. First, we must strengthen our business environment and ensure that Singapore remains the preferred location for trade and investment, particularly in emerging growth areas, such as additive manufacturing and fintech. The anchoring of global companies, which meet our desired profile and the aspirations of Singaporeans, will help to preserve and spur the creation of good jobs. Second, we must sustain efforts to help Singaporeans build skills relevant to the global talent marketplace. This is why we started the SkillsFuture movement and complemented it with a range of career conversion programmes. They have helped Singaporeans take up new jobs in growth areas. As for whether labour laws need to be updated, this is an on-going process that takes into account feedback from our tripartite partners. We are also actively monitoring shifts in workplace practices due to remote working and sharing views with our international counterparts, to assess the need for policy intervention.”
“Mr Speaker, COVID-19 has necessitated a change in the way we work, in particular with remote working becoming commonplace for many of our workplaces. Some companies, such as Facebook, have announced that all employees can work from home. UBS has started experimenting with issuing its home-based traders with virtual reality headsets to recreate the experience of working in a packed trading floor. Increasingly, traditional jobs which require physical presence may also be done remotely. For example, port cranes could only be operated from their cabins in the past but now they can be automated and controlled from a remote centre. The impact of remote working technology is, however, not fully clear. Even when staff are able to work from home, employers may still prefer to bring teams of workers together physically, on a regular basis, for learning and collaboration. Face-to-face interactions with clients and partners will still be needed. As with digital technologies, which have mostly been adopted to augment rather than replace the work performed by people, it is likely that remote working technology supplement rather than fully replace physical interactions at the workplace. Nonetheless, remote working may indeed prompt companies to redistribute their activities to take advantage of manpower availability in lower cost countries. This is similar to how activities such as garment manufacturing and call centre operations have shifted out of Singapore over the years. In their place, we have now grown new manufacturing clusters such as biomedical sciences and expanded the services sector. At the same time, activities that remain in Singapore moved higher up the value chain.”
“Mdm Deputy Speaker, I beg to move, "That Parliament do now adjourn." [(proc text) Question proposed. (proc text)] Increasing Support for the Sustenance of Livelihoods amongst Performing Arts Workers 7.12 pm”
“Mr Speaker, on behalf of the Leader, I beg to move, "That the proceedings on the business set down on the Order Paper for today be exempted at this day’s sitting from the provisions of Standing Order No 2." [(proc text) Question put, and agreed to. (proc text)] [(proc text) Resolved, "That the proceedings on the business set down on the Order Paper for today be exempted at this day's sitting from the provisions of Standing Order No 2." – [Mr Zaqy Mohamad.] (proc text)]”
“I thank the Member. The Tripartite Advisory has not been announced and I cannot confirm. But we will certainly look into it. I think, today, the practice is already in place and something we encourage strongly. Where the job does not require it, the employee does not need to declare it as part of his employment application. So, this is something that we need to hold strong, too. But look out for the advisory once it is out. But rest assured that we are looking at various areas in which we want to make sure that the well-being of our workers is well protected, both from the physical health as well as mental health states.”
“So, there are different modalities in terms of how we work and intermingle the work boundaries and personal life boundaries. I think these are important points for us to consider and perhaps something that the union could raise as part of our discussions on the Tripartite Advisory.”
“Sir, I thank the Member for his clarification and questions. Certainly, the work from home arrangement today has changed the way we work and brought access to the office into the home. So, I fully recognise the challenges some of our workers are facing with regard to the blurred lines between work hours and personal time. Certainly, I can see where the Member is coming from, where clearer boundaries between work and personal time would be useful. Sir, as we work on the Tripartite Advisory that we plan to announce later, it is important that we look at some of these aspects to see how we can use the space to work towards an understanding between employer and employee to see how we can better manage this work-life balance. But the same time as well, we have to also recognise that this is something new. I think it originated in France, if I am not mistaken – the El Khomri law. And many countries are still observing and seeing how this works out before we can consider it – whether it is feasible and open to legislation. The consideration that we must consider is whether something like this would be relevant or rigid in Singapore's context, given the fact that many of us, for example, do work for multinational firms or firms that work across time zones and you need to also pick up calls – and Zoom included – late at night to cater to a different work type of environment. But the same time as well, we also know that enforcing rigidity may also impede on some workers, too, because some prefer the flexibility that they can tend to their kids in the day, run errands, send the kids to pre-school, childcare and then come back, pick up the kids early and then work at night.”
“Mr Speaker, we are on track to publish the Tripartite Advisory on Mental Health in the fourth quarter of this year. Currently, the Advisory is undergoing consultation with employers, unions, mental health professionals and our civil society groups. In the meantime, the Inter-Agency Advisory on supporting mental well-being of workers under COVID-19 work arrangements that was published in April serves as a useful reference. It has a list of external resources that employers can consider engaging to provide support for their workers’ mental health. Employers can also initiate support for their workers. For instance, supervisors can check in regularly with their workers, talk to them to find out if they are facing any problems and refer them to external help if needed.”
“Mdm Deputy Speaker, on behalf of the Leader of the House, may I seek your consent to move that the debate be now adjourned?”
“Mdm Deputy Speaker, may I seek your consent and the general assent of Members present to move a Motion to proceedings on the business set down on the Order Paper for today beyond the moment of interruption?”
“Mdm Deputy Speaker, on behalf of the Leader, may I seek your consent and the general assent of Members present to move that the proceedings on the item under discussion be exempted from the provisions of Standing Order No 48(8) to remove the time limit in respect of Minister Edwin Tong and Minister Maliki Osman's speeches?”
“I thank the Member for giving us suggestions. And I hope that with our further debates in this House, there is more that can be done.”