Govt hasn’t overdone foreign manpower control, says Swee Say
TODAY file photo
SINGAPORE — With employment growth falling in the first quarter of the year, some Members of Parliament (MPs) today (July 13) expressed concerns that it could be a sign that the Government was “overdoing” the controls on hiring foreign manpower, and that businesses were failing to keep pace with economic restructuring efforts.
Total employment fell for the first time in six years, with the number of people employed falling by 6,100 from the previous quarter. Non-Constituency MP Gerald Giam had asked if this trend would continue into the second quarter of the year, and its implications on the economy.
Noting that the figures have drawn much interest, Nominated MP Randolph Tan said: “The concern among industry observers is that it is a sign we may have overdone the manpower tightening. Can I ask the minister whether he thinks there will be enough warning signs if the overtightening has been overdone?”
Mr Giam also asked if the high levels of job vacancies — 143 vacancies per 100 jobseekers as of March — and low job creation were “signs that companies are not restructuring fast enough”.
In response, Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say said the Republic has not overdone its foreign manpower policy. While there had been previous calls to freeze the issuance of work permits altogether, the Ministry of Manpower had chosen not to do so.
Instead, it has slowed down the process, “and yet manage and assess the transition in a way that would enable more companies, especially the small and medium enterprises, to adapt and grow”, said Mr Lim.
Employment growth had fallen in the first quarter of the year due to seasonality, as well as “sharper moderation in employment growth in manufacturing and construction sectors, and certain services sectors”, said Mr Lim. But these figures needed to be seen in the context of the Republic’s labour market, which had seen an increase in employment rates in the first quarter of the year by 2.9 per cent.
He added that the drop was observed at a single point, and needed to be observed over several quarters before a definite conclusion could be made about the pace of restructuring. He also said that even as the Government was concerned that job growth has slowed, it was worried that the pace of restructuring is not fast enough. “In fact, with a faster pace of restructuring, we can expect job growth to be slowed down even further.”
Despite allowing work permit holder numbers to grow, many companies are still facing constraints, he noted. The ministry will be working closely with industries with jobs that can only be performed by a domestic workforce — such as healthcare and F&B — to help make them more manpower-lean and achieve growth in a sustainable manner, he added.
