- Joined
- Jul 24, 2008
- Messages
- 33,627
- Points
- 0
http://www.tremeritus.com/2015/08/22/yee-refutes-lims-view-that-23-sg-core-will-be-maintained/
[h=2]Yee refutes Lim’s view that 2/3 SG core will be maintained[/h]
August 22nd, 2015 |
Author: Editorial
NCMP Yee Jenn Jong
In an interview with TODAY earlier this week, Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say
said that the government will hold fast to its goal of having a two-thirds
Singaporean core in the economy, and this will be the structure of the country’s
workforce in the “medium to long term”.
He elaborated on the government’s aim of maintaining the 2:1 ratio of
Singaporean workers to foreign employees. That is:
“We are managing the growth of the foreign manpower at the pace in tandem
with the growth of the local manpower,” he said. “It’s important that we ensure
that two thirds of our workforce will form a strong Singaporean core in our
economy … On the whole, we want to do our best to strike this balance.”
Singapore is now more selective of the types of foreign workers it wants, Mr
Lim said. For the rank and file workers, it would prefer those who are more
skilful and more experienced. “We don’t want Singapore to be their learning
ground,” he said.
For PMETs, Singapore is looking for those “who can bring the expertise and
know-how to complement and supplement what we have in Singapore”, he said.
In short, the emphasis is on quality over quantity – quality in terms of the
foreigners’ relevance to Singapore’s future direction, Mr Lim explained.
“Ideally, (a situation where) local and foreign PMEs are not competing for jobs
in Singapore (but one where) Singaporean PMEs are working together with foreign
PMEs to help us to compete for jobs with the rest of the world.”
NCMP Yee refutes Lim’s optimistic view of maintaining 1/3 FTs in
“medium to long term”
Minister Lim Swee Say with his famous toothpick (Photo:
ST)
However, NCMP Yee Jenn Jong was not too optimistic with regard to Minister
Lim’s view of maintaining foreign manpower to 1/3 of Singapore’s workforce.
On his blog [Link]
yesterday (21 Aug), Mr Yee wrote that former Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin had
admitted that the one-third FT target is possible only for this decade, during a
Parliamentary debate 2 years ago.
“That I agree with,” Mr Yee wrote.
“Whilst doing our own computations for alternative models, we had then studied all the publicly available numbers about population in Singapore. There will be net addition to the local workforce from 2013 till 2020, the end of this decade. This is because there will be more Singaporeans turning of age to be included into the workforce than there are Singaporeans retiring.”
However, Mr Yee noted that beyond 2020, in order to get the kind of economic
growth the PAP government had wanted in the White Paper, there has to be more
addition of foreign labour without any addition of local manpower.
“How much to add will depend on productivity growth, which the government had
set a target of 2-3%. Sadly, this productivity growth has been near zero or
negative in recent years,” he said.
As such, Mr Yee questioned Mr Lim’s talk of maintaining the 2:1 ratio of
Singaporean to foreign workers in Singapore’s workforce in the “medium to long
term”.
Mr Yee said, “So, Mr Lim’s comments that the two-thirds Singaporean core will
be something for the ‘medium to long term’ is rather puzzling. What is ‘medium
to long term’?”
“His predecessor (Tan Chuan-Jin) had already agreed with me that ‘by 2020 our
own domestic labour force growth will basically end up at about zero. So
whatever growth we have thereafter will largely be foreign labour growth’ and
that ‘it (foreign workforce) is really about one-third for this decade until
about 2020.” Mr Yee added.
FT workforce already more than 1/3
To make matters worse, proportion of local work force seems to be decreasing
while that of foreign work force is increasing.
Mr Yee said, “At the point that I had asked the question in March 2013, based
on available manpower data of 2012, locals made up 63.0% of the workforce. By
2014, this figure has dropped to 61.9%. It was 62.1% in 2013 (Source:
http://stats.mom.gov.sg/Pages/Labour-Force-Summary-Table.aspx).”
[TABLE="width: 511"]
[TR]
[TD="width: 107"] [/TD]
[TD="width: 64"]Mid 2012[/TD]
[TD="width: 64"]Mid 2013[/TD]
[TD="width: 64"]Mid 2014[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Total Workforce (‘000)[/TD]
[TD]3,361.8[/TD]
[TD]3,443.7[/TD]
[TD]3,530.8[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Local Workforce (‘000)[/TD]
[TD]2,119.6[/TD]
[TD]2,138.8[/TD]
[TD]2,185.2[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]% Local[/TD]
[TD]63.0%[/TD]
[TD]62.1%[/TD]
[TD]61.9%[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
In other words, as of last year, the proportion of foreign workers in our
work force was already 38.1%, more than 1/3.
“Is Mr Lim’s definition of long-term up to 2020 only? If it is beyond 2020,
how is he going to achieve that because even with a growing local workforce in
this current decade, the ratio has been declining well past the two-thirds ratio
already while productivity has failed to improve,” Mr Yee asked a very good
question.
Mr Yee’s figures clearly showed that the PAP government may not be able to
maintain the 2/3 Singaporean core in our workforce.
[h=2]Yee refutes Lim’s view that 2/3 SG core will be maintained[/h]
August 22nd, 2015 |
Author: Editorial
NCMP Yee Jenn Jong
In an interview with TODAY earlier this week, Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say
said that the government will hold fast to its goal of having a two-thirds
Singaporean core in the economy, and this will be the structure of the country’s
workforce in the “medium to long term”.
He elaborated on the government’s aim of maintaining the 2:1 ratio of
Singaporean workers to foreign employees. That is:
- Singapore workers – 66.7%
- Foreign workers – 33.3%
“We are managing the growth of the foreign manpower at the pace in tandem
with the growth of the local manpower,” he said. “It’s important that we ensure
that two thirds of our workforce will form a strong Singaporean core in our
economy … On the whole, we want to do our best to strike this balance.”
Singapore is now more selective of the types of foreign workers it wants, Mr
Lim said. For the rank and file workers, it would prefer those who are more
skilful and more experienced. “We don’t want Singapore to be their learning
ground,” he said.
For PMETs, Singapore is looking for those “who can bring the expertise and
know-how to complement and supplement what we have in Singapore”, he said.
In short, the emphasis is on quality over quantity – quality in terms of the
foreigners’ relevance to Singapore’s future direction, Mr Lim explained.
“Ideally, (a situation where) local and foreign PMEs are not competing for jobs
in Singapore (but one where) Singaporean PMEs are working together with foreign
PMEs to help us to compete for jobs with the rest of the world.”
NCMP Yee refutes Lim’s optimistic view of maintaining 1/3 FTs in
“medium to long term”
Minister Lim Swee Say with his famous toothpick (Photo:
ST)
However, NCMP Yee Jenn Jong was not too optimistic with regard to Minister
Lim’s view of maintaining foreign manpower to 1/3 of Singapore’s workforce.
On his blog [Link]
yesterday (21 Aug), Mr Yee wrote that former Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin had
admitted that the one-third FT target is possible only for this decade, during a
Parliamentary debate 2 years ago.
“That I agree with,” Mr Yee wrote.
“Whilst doing our own computations for alternative models, we had then studied all the publicly available numbers about population in Singapore. There will be net addition to the local workforce from 2013 till 2020, the end of this decade. This is because there will be more Singaporeans turning of age to be included into the workforce than there are Singaporeans retiring.”
However, Mr Yee noted that beyond 2020, in order to get the kind of economic
growth the PAP government had wanted in the White Paper, there has to be more
addition of foreign labour without any addition of local manpower.
“How much to add will depend on productivity growth, which the government had
set a target of 2-3%. Sadly, this productivity growth has been near zero or
negative in recent years,” he said.
As such, Mr Yee questioned Mr Lim’s talk of maintaining the 2:1 ratio of
Singaporean to foreign workers in Singapore’s workforce in the “medium to long
term”.
Mr Yee said, “So, Mr Lim’s comments that the two-thirds Singaporean core will
be something for the ‘medium to long term’ is rather puzzling. What is ‘medium
to long term’?”
“His predecessor (Tan Chuan-Jin) had already agreed with me that ‘by 2020 our
own domestic labour force growth will basically end up at about zero. So
whatever growth we have thereafter will largely be foreign labour growth’ and
that ‘it (foreign workforce) is really about one-third for this decade until
about 2020.” Mr Yee added.
FT workforce already more than 1/3
To make matters worse, proportion of local work force seems to be decreasing
while that of foreign work force is increasing.
Mr Yee said, “At the point that I had asked the question in March 2013, based
on available manpower data of 2012, locals made up 63.0% of the workforce. By
2014, this figure has dropped to 61.9%. It was 62.1% in 2013 (Source:
http://stats.mom.gov.sg/Pages/Labour-Force-Summary-Table.aspx).”
[TABLE="width: 511"]
[TR]
[TD="width: 107"] [/TD]
[TD="width: 64"]Mid 2012[/TD]
[TD="width: 64"]Mid 2013[/TD]
[TD="width: 64"]Mid 2014[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Total Workforce (‘000)[/TD]
[TD]3,361.8[/TD]
[TD]3,443.7[/TD]
[TD]3,530.8[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Local Workforce (‘000)[/TD]
[TD]2,119.6[/TD]
[TD]2,138.8[/TD]
[TD]2,185.2[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]% Local[/TD]
[TD]63.0%[/TD]
[TD]62.1%[/TD]
[TD]61.9%[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
In other words, as of last year, the proportion of foreign workers in our
work force was already 38.1%, more than 1/3.
“Is Mr Lim’s definition of long-term up to 2020 only? If it is beyond 2020,
how is he going to achieve that because even with a growing local workforce in
this current decade, the ratio has been declining well past the two-thirds ratio
already while productivity has failed to improve,” Mr Yee asked a very good
question.
Mr Yee’s figures clearly showed that the PAP government may not be able to
maintain the 2/3 Singaporean core in our workforce.
