Ministry of Manpower Inflow of foreigners
Many Singaporeans are angry at the inflow of foreigners who take over their jobs and become new citizens. They vent their anger against the immigrants.

I hold a different view.

I understand that the migrants also face a challenge in adapting to a new country and culture. Their families also face the same difficulty.

Singaporeans will also face similar difficulties when they migrate to another country. They also have to face the xenophobic reaction from the locals there.

There are advantages to a country to welcome immigrants who can contribute to the dynamism of their economy and society.

However, in the case of Singapore, the problems caused by the migrants to the local workforce is daunting and disruptive to a harmful extent. They overcome the benefits that are brought by the immigrants.

Why is this the case?

Employers in Singapore prefer to employ foreigners, rather than locals, for the following reasons:

a) They have to incur the cost of CPF contributions for employing locals
b) They have to suffer disruption in their operations when the locals are called up for reservist duties.

While the employer have to pay a levy for employing foreign workers at the lower levels, which help to equalize the wage cost to some extent, they are exempt from paying the levy for higher level foreigners on employment pass. 

I do not understand the logic of exempting the higher level foreigners from the levy. It is a glaring anomaly which has been ignored by the PAP ministers for two decades!

There are other factors that make the employer prefer to employ foreign workers, such as the difference in  work attitude and expectations between locals and foreign workers. I believe that this can be corrected, if the two factors outlined earlier are sorted out.

It is very disappointing that several manpower ministers failed to recognize the root cause of the problems and address them properly during the past two decades.

Instead, their introduced ineffective measures, such as the "fair employment framework". They did not work and caused a loss of many years.

It will be a blemish on their records. History will judge them.

It is very important for the government to take the following actions immediately:

a) Introduce the levy on employment pass holders.
b) Exempt citizens from reservist duty after they pass the age of 25 years
c) Provide a wage subsidy for small employers to employ locals - so that these jobs can give an adequate income to the workers and be viable for the small businesses.

I wish to give these suggestions for the next minister of manpower to consider. 

Do you agree?

Tan Kin Lian
 

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