S-pass considered foreign talent

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgF noWrap align=right width="1%">From: </TD><TD class=msgFname noWrap width="68%">teh_si <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgDate noWrap align=right width="30%">5:40 am </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT noWrap align=right width="1%" height=20>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname noWrap width="68%">ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft width="1%" rowSpan=4></TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>8258.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt>wah . those earning $1800 to $2500 are also considered foreign talent..
win already loh.
I think the only talent these foreign workers have is they are cheap
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<TABLE class="georgia11 whiteBg" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=620 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=padlrt10>Feb 28, 2009</TD></TR><TR><TD class=padlrt10>TIGHTER S-PASS RULES
Does restricting foreign talent help Singaporeans?



</TD></TR><TR><TD class=padlrt10>The Manpower Ministry recently announced it will raise the qualifying criteria for S-Pass applicants. This is a reversal of a trend that liberalised the employment pass for semi-skilled foreign workers. Insight looks at what this move might mean for local workers.


</TD></TR><TR><TD class=padlrt10>By Aaron Low



</TD></TR><TR><TD class="marginbottom8 padlrt10">WHEN Mr Mansoor Ali was retrenched from his engineering job late last year, he was both shocked and angry.

Shocked because the 38-year-old felt he was doing little wrong in the semiconductor company that he had been with for more than 21/2 years.
Shock quickly turned into anger when he learnt that 20 foreigners working in the same department were not being retrenched.
'I am the sole breadwinner in my family with a school-going child. Did it matter to my employer? No, the general manager said it was a business decision,' said Mr Mansoor, who is married with two children.
'My situation didn't matter to them. I felt as if locals were not protected.'
His bitter reaction mirrors the sentiment that some Singaporeans have towards foreigners. They feel that foreigners here take their jobs away.
It is a sentiment that the current downturn - in which jobs are becoming ever more scarce - will do little to alleviate.
MPs too have started to ask whether it is time to rethink the open door policy that Singapore adopted towards foreigners during the boom years.
In particular, they single out foreigners on the S-Pass - a category of foreign workers who compete for jobs most directly with local professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs).
Addressing such concerns during the recent Budget debate, Acting Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong announced that the qualifying criteria for the S-Pass would be raised.
He did stress, however, that it would hurt the economy as a whole if Singapore were to chase foreigners out.
What does such a move signal? Will it be effective in creating more opportunities for local PMETs? Or will it add to the burden of struggling companies?
Tweaking the S-Pass

THE S-Pass is an employment pass for semi-skilled workers with diploma-level or post-secondary-level education and who earn at least $1,800 a month.
It was introduced in 2004 by the Government as a means of helping businesses get access to foreign manpower on the back of a booming economy.
Companies complained that they were struggling to find the manpower to meet their business needs.
To ease their woes, the S-Pass was created to allow semi-skilled professionals, such as assistant engineers, skilled technicians and accountants who were in high demand, into the economy.
Initially, the quota for S-Pass holders in each company was capped at just 5per cent of a company's staff strength. It was raised gradually over the years to the current cap of 25per cent.
As a result, the overall number of S-Pass holders has jumped.
In 2006, there were just 25,000 S-Pass holders here. This trebled to 74,000 last year.
These figures mirror the rise in the total population of the foreign workforce here.
In 1998, there were 640,000 foreign workers in Singapore.
Last year, the figure rose to slightly more than a million - or almost 35per cent of the 2.86million-strong workforce here, Manpower Ministry (MOM) figures show.
S-Pass holders are now dispersed throughout the economy. They build ships in shipyards, man telephones at call centres, work as retail assistants, and in restaurants as managers and chefs.
The Government reassured Singaporeans that the S-Pass was not going to crowd Singaporeans out since companies could tap on the S-Pass to fill urgent manpower needs.
Government leaders point out that without access to such foreign labour - S-Pass holders included - companies can face problems meeting orders.
But while this may have been true in the good times, the liberal policy of the S-Pass should be relooked now, as the downturn takes its toll on workers' jobs, said Dr Lim Wee Kiak, an MP for Sembawang GRC.
'Now that the economy has contracted, should we also think about whether allowing so many S-Pass holders creates too much competition here for our local PMETs?'
Dr Lim was pleased when he heard that MOM would be raising the qualifying criteria for S-Pass holders.
He believes it is a good move and will stem the wave of S-Pass holders coming here.
'This strikes a good balance between ensuring that jobs continue to exist for locals and allowing in semi-skilled foreigners.'
Furthermore, he said this will complete the package of help that the Government has laid out for PMETs.
There are already training and skills upgrading opportunities - such as the newly launched Professional Skills Programme, and the Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience (Spur) - that PMETs can tap.
But these training efforts may come to nought if there are no jobs for trained personnel to take up, said Dr Lim.
Using the analogy of fishermen and fish, he said: 'It's best to train one how to fish. But if there are few fishes and too many fishermen, there will be too few fish for everyone - even for skilled fishermen.'
His views are echoed by Mr David Leong, managing director of human resource firm PeopleWorldwide.
He thinks the ministry's move will help funnel the flow of foreign manpower to those jobs where there is a lack of skills among the local workforce.
For example, those in the service industry 'will likely be hardest hit as these jobs are easily filled by Singaporeans, with training if need be', he said.
'The learning curve for such skills as sales, marketing and retail merchandising is not as steep as that in technical areas like safety supervisors, construction foremen or commissioning superintendents, where specific technical qualifications are needed.'
Stricter may not be better

BUT not all observers are entirely satisfied with changes to the S-pass system.
For one thing, the quota does not look like it will be changed any time soon, said National Trades Union Congress deputy secretary-general Halimah Yacob.
She was hoping for a review of the quota - together with a raising of the criteria - as this would help create more job opportunities for Singaporeans.
'There are also now concerns about whether our diploma holders and graduates will be able to get jobs when they graduate this year,' she said.
'The $1,800 salary for an S-pass degree holder is much lower than what most companies have to pay fresh graduates, at least before the start of the recession.'
Mrs Josephine Teo, an MP for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC, describes the move to change the qualifying criteria as one that does not 'tighten the tap but merely replaces the filter for the tap'.
She points out that the monthly S-Pass levy, at $50, is much lower than the monthly levy for work permit holders, which ranges from $150 to $450.
Errant employers may also appear to be paying $1,800 for S-Pass holders, but they may also charge them for housing and make them do overtime without paying them extra, she says.
'This has the unintended consequence of creating an unlevel playing field for Singaporeans. Does MOM allow this? If yes, why? If not, another level of tightening is really enforcement - to make sure the rules are strictly followed.'
Mrs Teo also said that raising the qualifying criteria could help lessen the problem of unskilled foreigners being passed off as 'skilled' workers.
Of course, not all employers try to beat the system.
Many employers are indeed worried about how any tweaking of the S-Pass criteria will affect their businesses.
For instance, while closing the tap may theoretically mean more job opportunities, if local workers themselves are not lining up for these jobs, businesses may be the ones to suffer.
Retail is one sector which Singaporeans are not flocking to in search of jobs.


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Metro's human resource and operations director Edward Tan said there is still a lack of interest in working in retail.
'The usual obstacles are there: working at the weekend, working till midnight during sales periods, 10 to 12 hours of standing on your feet,' said Mr Tan, who has about 20 S-Pass workers on his payroll. 'I would gladly employ locals - if only more would come forward.'
Another key concern for businesses is cost, especially in a recession.
Mr David Ang, executive director of the Singapore Human Resources Institute, pointed out that the local worker inherently costs more than the foreigner because of wage expectations and the need to make Central Provident Fund contributions.
'For instance, a fresh poly grad may fit into a typical S-Pass job and earn $1,800, as diploma holders earn that much. But he may not have the skills or experience of the S-Pass worker,' he said.
And in a severe downturn such as this, it may not make sense to the Government to increase costs for businesses by making them turn to more expensive local workers, Mr Ang added.
Hence, he believes there is reluctance to make major changes to the S-Pass, or any other foreign worker employment pass system.
These issues were reflected by the ministry in an e-mailed reply to questions from Insight.
A ministry spokesman reiterated the Government's stand that the availability of foreign talent is a key competitive advantage that helps to anchor strategic investments and bolster Singapore's growth industries.
Without foreigners, a company may close down or decide to move out of Singapore, the spokesman added.
At the same time, Singapore needs workers for jobs that Singaporeans might not have the required skills for, or which they are unwilling to do.
'Foreign manpower helps keep our businesses globally competitive,' the spokesman said.


Foreigners in our midst

THE debate over the S-Pass is occurring amid a broader discussion now about the place of foreigners in Singapore and their role and contributions to the economy.
The Government has vigorously defended their presence and said that foreign workers serve as a buffer against retrenchments.
According to Manpower Ministry figures, this seems to be the case.
In 2002 - as a result of the 2001 recession - 42,300 foreigners lost their jobs while 19,400 jobs were created for locals.
In 2003, the situation was similar: 27,900 foreigners lost their jobs, while 14,900 locals gained employment instead.
The big question is whether they will continue to be a buffer in this current recession.
There are no clear indications of this as yet, as the fourth quarter labour market figures do not give a breakdown of the 7,000 who were retrenched in the last three months of last year.
But National University of Singapore economics professor Tilak Abeysinghe said that even if there is a buffer this time round, it is likely to be the foreign worker who is in a lower-skilled job.
'There may be a substitution effect - companies hiring locals for foreigners - at the bottom in this recession. But at the higher end, the effect of foreign labour is more complementary,' he said.
At a dialogue with the labour movement and employers recently, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong warned against the notion that Singapore should push foreign workers out at the first instance.
Their numbers will fall because companies will fold in the downturn, he said. But it would do Singapore and Singaporean workers more harm to insist they should go first.
Still, the fact is that many Singaporeans are becoming increasingly worried about their jobs.
By addressing the issue of the S-Pass, the Government is showing that it is sensitive to the needs of Singaporeans, said Mr Ang.
'The move is a political one - balancing between the needs of the residents and the country's drive to get foreign talent,' he said.
Dr Lim agreed: 'I think the Government doesn't want to send the wrong signal that we will kick foreigners out at the first instance of trouble.'
Ultimately, there is no easy solution to the plight of the PMETs.
Tweaking the S-Pass policy and introducing the Jobs Credit wage subsidy scheme will help locals become more competitive, say observers.
But is just one part of the equation.
Many PMETs will have to go through training and adopt new expectations and attitudes in this recession, said Mrs Teo.
Mr Mansoor is one such person.
He decided to re-evaluate his life when he was laid off from his job.
While still bitter about his retrenchment experience, he nonetheless focused his energies on the future.
Using $20,000 from his savings, he set up a drinks and teh tarik stall in Bedok.
But he aims, within the next five to 10 years, to set up and run a group of companies that deal with importing and exporting food and medical equipment.
'There is no shame in being a hawker. I consider my stall to be my 'personal ATM' which will bring me cash on which to build my future,' he said. 'Who knows?...Two years from now, I could be earning more than the general manager who fired me.

The word "talent" has been a strong statement. Singapore professionals are not talented? If that is the case, our education system is questionable since other country education system can produce such large amount of talent while we can't.