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    E-Guide To The Employment of Foreign Manpower
    E-Guide To The Employment of Foreign Manpower
    E-Guide To The Employment of Foreign Manpower
    Ebook123 pages2 hours

    E-Guide To The Employment of Foreign Manpower

    By Vincent Gabriel

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    About this ebook

    The Singapore economy has undergone drastic changes. There is less and less of the traditional activities. A simple example is that Singapore has lost its place as the No. 1 port, yet Singapore remains a shipping and maritime hub.

    Europeans find Singapore a convenient connection to the fast growing business opportunities of China and India and now Burma (also called Myanmar).

    India and Burma represent the new frontier opportunities â What China was two decades ago of underpriced assets and a labour force willing to put in the effort.

    Amidst this background the Singaporean worker Gen X vintage is rewarded according to his/her performance. The old cap on wages has been jettisoned. The gap between the average high performer who earns $50,00 and the cleaner who earns $850 is too great to be acceptable.

    Drastic steps are being taken to bring the definition of low wage to be not less than a $1,000 a month. Creative steps are being undertaken by the government, the labour movement and employees to train and to do whatever is needed to bring up and maintain that wage level.

    This means that foreigners on work permits should not be brought in, as they tend to cause wages to fall unless these foreigners earn at least $1,300 a month.

    The relationship between foreigners on work passes and Singaporean workers (at these entry levels) is a love-hate relationship. On the one hand Singapore love to have "maids" (FDWs), marine contractors, labourers, healthcare workers, but on the other hand the 'S' pass holders, the EP holders, who compete with tertiary-educated Singaporean at entry levels the relationship is not so receptive. Young graduates must be given
    a chance to enter the workforce.

    This book explains the employment regulations of hiring foreign manpower in Singapore and teaches how you the employer can comply with the Singapore labour laws.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublishereBookIt.com
    Release dateApr 26, 2016
    ISBN9789810798093
    E-Guide To The Employment of Foreign Manpower

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      Book preview

      E-Guide To The Employment of Foreign Manpower - Vincent Gabriel

      Manpower

      UNIT 1

      Overview of the Employment of Foreign Manpower

      Synopsis

      • Context of Foreign Manpower currently

      Introduction

      Singapore has enjoyed full employment for a longtime simple because:

      • The schools churn out young people with the basic literary and numeracy skills.

      • The polytechnics and the institutes turn out young people with the basic skills needed by industry, commerce and the services sector.

      • Skills are kept relevant by re-skilling and re-training programmes. In many instances workers can enjoy a training allowance while they undertake training.

      • Housewives, whose children have grown up, can opt to rejoin the work force through a series of back-to-work schemes.

      • Ex-offenders, who wish to, are retrained with skills and placed with employers willing to mentor them.

      • The working age has been extended to 62 years so that the skills, experience, values and attitudes of the older worker are not lost.

      Finally all these schemes have, over time, pushed skill and wage levels up and the economy displays certain sectors that are still short of labour.

      These sectors include:

      • the construction sector

      • the sectors deemed: Dangerous

                                          Dirty

                           lacking in Dignity

           the inability to attract enough able bodied local workers

      • the domestic sector

      • the cutting edge sector in manufacturing commerce, creative services and in the new services

      Context of the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act.

      The context is shown in Figure 1.1. The employment opportunities cross and the explanation that follows:

      Fig 1.1 THE EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

      N.B. The numbers 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 refer to sectors of the economy.

      Sector One

      Senior positions of the people that manage the economy and the community.

      Sector Two

      These employees face competition from foreigners. So the Fair Consideration Framework is meant to give both the Singaporean and the foreigner a rational and a clear evaluation.

      Section Three

      There are skill shortages in some areas as noted in Case Study 1.2.

      Sector Four

      This is the sector described as Foreign talent. As the economy powers ahead to new hubs of growth, Foreign talent is needed. In Unit 9 there is mention of data scientists who are skilled to mine data.

      Sector Five

      Employers, sometimes, feel that foreign labour gives them more certainty over the future of their businesses.

      Sector Six

      Shortages and gaps in the labour force occur because of opportunity. Locals take up better paying jobs leaving gaps in the work process.

      Sector Seven

      Much will be said about this sector as employers, the trade unions and the government try to get more locals involved.

      The areas of dissatisfaction between local and foreign job applicants occur between Sectors 5 and 2.

      To keep the process of selection logical the Fair Consideration Framework has been introduced and will become operational in April 2014.

      The provisions are as follows:

      • All jobs that pay between $3,000 and $12,000 must be open to both locals and foreigners and all parties must be allowed to apply. Thus that job opening must be advertised in the Workforce Development Agency website for 14 days.

      • All applicants must be considered and the company should keep records of each candidate’s strengths. The reasons for the final outcome have to be recorded in the files of the company.

      Another area of unhappiness for the directors and HR managers of SMEs is between Sectors 6 and 3. Locals leave to take on managerial and higher positions and leave behind skill and knowledge gaps, especially in the fast growing sectors like hospitality and tourism, the telcos, banking, property.

      Bosses try to fill the gap by trying to employ foreign workers on Employment Passes and then find to their horror that these foreigners cannot produce the results they want.

      The solution may actually be continuous staff training and upgrading to get local employees multi-skilled and to introduce more automation.

      Some employers see conflict between Sector 7 and Sector 8. Sector 8 is a small band of unskilled low-income workers, and many retirees (of other jobs) who do jobs like cleaning, landscape gardening and security. The employers feel that the way forward is to raise wages to $1,000 as the minimum to discourage employers from taking in foreigners on work permits who earn and average of $800 to $900 a month.

      The solution may be to introduce automation and some skill upgrading.

      Fid 1.2 Conflict Areas in Employment Opportunities

      Population of Foreign Manpower

      In June 2013 the population of foreign manpower was as follows:

      Source: Department of Statistics

      Ministry of Manpower

      Copyright acknowledged

      Implications of Changes in the Act

      • Arts companies

      The increase in the qualifying salary for Employment Pass holders, who come to provide skills and talents to the arts groups have affected them in two ways:

      – the increase in qualifying salary means an additional cost to the borne

      – reflects the fact that there is not enough local talent in the arts areas of dance, music and theatre

      • Training loophole

      Some employees, especially in the service areas have recruited foreigners, as interns and trainees to get the workers they need.

      Note that training is defined as a type of employment in the Act.

      Employers are required to apply for the Training Work Permit or the Training Employment Pass.

      Case Study 1.1

      Caregiver Crunch

      In 2013 there are 380,000 people aged 65 and above and by 2020 the number is expected to reach 900,000.

      Currently there are:

      Family arrangements, children looking after parents, wives caring for husbands, aged parents looking after bed-bound children.

      Integrated day centres numbering 470 and 60 elder-care day-care centres look after 2,800 of the elderly.

      The rest approach employment agencies for maids to help look after the elderly. Hence there is a need for

      • better training to support caregivers with knowledge, skills and attitudes

      • individual employers of maids to give full support to the professional caregivers. Employment agencies can help educate families to support foreign maids, who provide such a valuable service to their loved ones

      Case Study 1.2

      Jobs Going Extinct

      Job One: Carpenters

      Since the Institute of Technical Education ended its carpentry and furniture-making courses in 1976 there has been a growing shortage. Currently, the shortage of local carpenters is made up of foreigners from China.

      From 2014, the Singapore Workforce Development Agency, the Australian Polytechnic West and e2i will put local apprentices with a minimum wage of $1,500 and they can progress to become master craftsman earning more than $3,000.

      Job Two: Car driving instructors

      The official policy was to get learner drivers to follow a structured driving training course since 1983.

      Car driving instructors follow the apprenticeship scheme of

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