Out of the box Measures to ensure that every citizens are employed
I carried out a survey and asked if it is the duty of the government to ensure that its citizens have jobs.

Over 80% said that it is. 

If the government accepts this duty, here are the measures that it can take:

a) Regulate the number of working hours per week. If there is a need to create 10% more jobs, the working hours can be reduced by 10%. If the workers are paid at an hourly rate, the income of the workers will vary according to the working hours. This concept is to ensure that the work is shared among all the workers, so that every one has a job.

b) Create useful work in the public sector and set the wage rate to be the benchmark for the private sector. Some of these jobs are in the public service, such as education, health care, law and order, public transport, etc.

c) Forecast the number of jobs in the public and private sectors that are needed in the economy over the next five to ten years and train the workers for these jobs. 

d) Provide guidelines on the wage rate for each job. These guidelines are based on a market study of the wages for these jobs. The information is useful to guide employers and workers. It sets a proper framework for the market rate for various jobs, rather than leave them to be settled by an imperfect market.

e) Allow foreign workers to take jobs only after ensuring that all locals are employed at adequate wages.

In carrying out the above strategy, the government has to be mindful of the following goals:

a) Ensure that the enterprises catering to the export market are competitive internationally.

b) Ensure that the public sector takes its fair share of the resources and do not squeeze out the private sector.

These goals have to be managed competently. With sharing of information in a transparent manner, getting public feedback and a system of responsive management, I am confident that these goals can be achieved.

Tan Kin Lian

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