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Kenneth Jeyaretam criticizes PAP’s labor policy and
promises to implement minimum wage
September 29th, 2010 | Author: Your Correspondent
The Secretary-General of the Reform Party Kenneth Jeyaretnam has criticized the PAP’s open door policy to foreign workers for depressing the wages of low income workers in Singapore.
Kenneth graduated with a honors degree in economics from the prestigious Cambridge University and works as a hedge fund manager in London for a number of years before returning to Singapore.
In an article published on votingrp.wordpress.com, Kenneth also reiterated RP’’s earlier pledge to introduce a minimum wage for workers if it were to form the government one day.
He wrote that the average incomes of the poorest 20 percent of households may have falled by up to 30 percent since 1998 if the depreciating value of hDB flats is taken into account.
“Why has this been so? Here the blame must be laid on the PAP’s open-door policy towards the employment of foreign labour. What should have been a way of attracting workers with special skills that Singaporeans lacked instead turned into a means of preventing wages from rising as rapid economic growth used up the pool of available workers. As a deliberate result of PAP policy, Singapore’s potential labour supply increased from our population to include most of Asia’s unemployed and underemployed masses. Far from rising, real wages of the lowest 20% were significantly depressed,” he added.
Kenneth argued that a minimum wage will ensure “there is a floor below which real wages cannot fall and that employers focus on boosting productivity rather than relying on ever cheaper labour.”
He also rebutted PAP Minister of State Lee Yi-Shyan’s rejection of the minimum wage on the grounds that it may hamper the employment of low-skilled workers.
“I find his arguments misleading given the fact that the labour market in Singapore is not restricted to Singaporeans but in fact encompasses much of low-wage Asia,” Kenneth wrote.
Though it is set up only in 2008, the Reform Party has demonstrated its ambition and competence by outlining a comprehensive list of policy pledges for Singapore if it were to form the government one day.
Read Kenneth’s entire article here.
promises to implement minimum wage
September 29th, 2010 | Author: Your Correspondent
The Secretary-General of the Reform Party Kenneth Jeyaretnam has criticized the PAP’s open door policy to foreign workers for depressing the wages of low income workers in Singapore.
Kenneth graduated with a honors degree in economics from the prestigious Cambridge University and works as a hedge fund manager in London for a number of years before returning to Singapore.
In an article published on votingrp.wordpress.com, Kenneth also reiterated RP’’s earlier pledge to introduce a minimum wage for workers if it were to form the government one day.
He wrote that the average incomes of the poorest 20 percent of households may have falled by up to 30 percent since 1998 if the depreciating value of hDB flats is taken into account.
“Why has this been so? Here the blame must be laid on the PAP’s open-door policy towards the employment of foreign labour. What should have been a way of attracting workers with special skills that Singaporeans lacked instead turned into a means of preventing wages from rising as rapid economic growth used up the pool of available workers. As a deliberate result of PAP policy, Singapore’s potential labour supply increased from our population to include most of Asia’s unemployed and underemployed masses. Far from rising, real wages of the lowest 20% were significantly depressed,” he added.
Kenneth argued that a minimum wage will ensure “there is a floor below which real wages cannot fall and that employers focus on boosting productivity rather than relying on ever cheaper labour.”
He also rebutted PAP Minister of State Lee Yi-Shyan’s rejection of the minimum wage on the grounds that it may hamper the employment of low-skilled workers.
“I find his arguments misleading given the fact that the labour market in Singapore is not restricted to Singaporeans but in fact encompasses much of low-wage Asia,” Kenneth wrote.
Though it is set up only in 2008, the Reform Party has demonstrated its ambition and competence by outlining a comprehensive list of policy pledges for Singapore if it were to form the government one day.
Read Kenneth’s entire article here.
