Oral Answer to PQ on Ensuring new jobs go to Singapore citizens and residents
NOTICE PAPER NO. 2690 OF 2024 FOR SITTING ON 2 APRIL 2024
QUESTION NO. 5901 FOR ORAL ANSWER
MP: Mr Gerald Giam
To ask the Minister for Manpower in view of the fact that non-residents make up 83,500 of the 88,400 total employment growth in 2023, how will the Ministry ensure that the bulk of new jobs created in 2024 will go to Singapore citizens and residents, including those aged 40 and above.
Answer:
The Member asked MOM to ensure that the bulk of new jobs created go to Singaporeans. I think the Member seems to be under the misconception that a net increase in foreign employment means that jobs are not going to Singaporeans. If that is so, this view is fundamentally misguided. Let me explain why.
2. Firstly, what MOM is focused on, and is interested in is whether Singaporeans who want to find a job, can indeed do so. One way to look at this is to examine the resident employment and unemployment rates. In 2023, our resident employment rate was 66.2%. This puts us as having the fourth highest resident employment rate compared to other advanced economies in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Our resident unemployment rate and long-term unemployment rate remained very low at 2.7% and 0.7% respectively. So we are close to full employment. In fact, the Government has invested much effort in safeguarding resident employment. To illustrate, over the 2020-2022 period, where COVID-19 had an impact on our economy and labour market, resident employment growth remained robust, increasing by more than 110,000 while non-resident employment declined by 3,000.
3. Secondly, with slowing resident workforce growth, it is imperative that Singapore remains open to complementary foreign labour to meet the demands of our growing economy and our businesses. If you take a closer look at the 83,500 non-resident employment growth last year, only 18,700, or 22.4%, was from higher-skilled Employment Pass (EP) and S Pass holders. The total number of EP and S Pass holders combined is still below pre-COVID levels. The remaining increase of 64,800, accounting for more than 77%, was due to an increase in the number of holders for Work Permits and other Work Passes, in sectors such as Construction. These are not typically the type of jobs that Singaporeans want to do.
4. There is a global shortage of skilled talent, with global cities competing for both investments and human capital. To stay competitive and nurture a vibrant corporate ecosystem, we need to ensure that our businesses can access talent and expand. Thriving businesses create jobs for Singaporeans; they contribute taxes, which in turn can be used to improve the livelihoods of Singaporeans.
5. We continue to enhance the complementarity of our foreign workforce. We peg the minimum costs of hiring EP and S Pass holders to the top one-third of local Professionals, Managers, Executives and Technicians (PMETs) and Associate Professionals and Technicians (APTs) respectively. By regularly updating the qualifying salaries based on the set wage benchmarks, we ensure that our EP and S Pass holders are of high quality and maintain a level-playing field for our locals. The Complementarity Assessment Framework (COMPASS), which came into effect for new EP applications in September 2023, also allows us to evaluate EP candidates holistically based on individual and firm-related attributes. This ensures that employers bring in the right profile of foreign workers to complement our local workforce, and that companies develop healthy workforce profiles that are powered by a strong local core.
6. The fundamental objective of our approach is to strike a balance between ensuring that businesses have access to skills and manpower needed to grow and succeed, while creating opportunities for our local workers to grow and progress. Our approach has helped our locals to secure good jobs. Between 2013 and 2023, the number of resident PMETs increased by 380,000 and the number of EP and S Pass holders increased by 50,000. In growth sectors such as Finance, Infocomm and Professional Services, resident PMETs increased by 190,000 and the number of EP and S Pass holders increased by 20,000. But more importantly, over the decade, resident income has also increased by 21.6% in real terms. So we must not view residents and foreigners as a zero-sum game and continue to draw divides. Thriving businesses with access to complementary foreign talent will not only lead to more job creation but also improve overall wage outcomes as businesses expand and improve their productivity. By growing our economic pie, we will be better able to secure positive outcomes for Singapore and Singaporeans.