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Insights Into The Latest Government Initiatives To Support Local Workers

Will it really help us?


The Singapore government had recently announced several initiatives to spur companies in Singapore to start hiring older local employees. Before we share our views on how these measures could impact Singapore, let’s first introduce what’s new.

What you need to know about these latest initiatives to support the older PMEs (Professionals, Managers and Executives) can be summarised as follow.

What’s new?

1. Employers will receive an income support from the government when they hire workers 40-years-old and above who earn a minimum of $4,000. The workers hired must have been looking for employment for the past 6 months.

2. Workers aged between 40 to 49 who are eligible will have their salary subsidised by the government by 20% in the first 6 months, and 10% for the subsequent next 6 months.

3. Workers who are above 50 will have their salary subsidised by the government by 40% in the first 6 months, and 20% for the subsequent next 6 months.

Relying more on the local workforce

After years of bringing in foreign labour by the truckload, the Singapore government has finally realised that what the country really needs is a strong Singapore core. We may still need to rely on foreign labour as our market is small, but currently, we have a local to foreign labour workforce of 2:1.

To stop this from worsening, the government has made a proactive effort to step in. We have the Skills Future credit, the tightening of foreign labour policies and now, the wage support system for PMEs. Companies are also required to advertise for vacancies on the national job bank to look for local hires first in a specified period of time before being able to hire foreigners. It is heartening to see that our government is working for us.

We hope they sense the appreciation on the ground, albeit a cautious one, and continue to do more instead of reverting back upon seeing no improvement in the short-term.

Managing short-term expectations

Unfortunately, there is no quick fix. Introducing these policies will go a long way toward aiding us in the long run. However, after years of bringing in foreign labour to compete with locals on lower wages, the productivity increases in the short term will be marginal.

This should not be used as evidence by the government that Singaporeans have failed to become more productive even though they were given the backing. Doing so would be a below-the-belt jab.

As much as we would love for these policies to work overnight, bringing in older workers on a high-subsidised wage to replace younger foreign workers will not lead to higher productivity. In fact, it may even be a negative return in the short run.

Productivity must become a mindset for the locals over the longer term. If adequately supported by the government, this could become a long-term success for the nation, but not an overnight one.

Doing more and being appreciated

Even though we appreciate and support what the government has done recently, it should not stop here. In fact, there are many jobs in Singapore that probably do not need a foreigner to fill. A good example would be property agents. Do we not have enough locals already plying the trade? Likewise, jobs in most middle management and professional positions should have a strong local core. That’s the only way the country can continue to grow at a healthy and sustainable rate.

On the other spectrum, jobs that Singaporeans tend to shun such as roles in the construction and certain service sectors could be studied further and relaxed to allow for more foreign hires. Naturally, we should hire quality and productive foreigners, rather than simply those who are cheaper.

Singaporeans to do their part

We do see evidence that Singaporeans complain too much about there being too many foreigners around us. Here are some suggestions on how we can all play our part through some simple “mindset hacks” that we can embrace, and that the government should champion.

1. Throwing all cigarette buds into a bin instead of conveniently dropping it on the ground or into the drain. No, not having a rubbish bin nearby is no excuse for littering.

2. Returning food trays and plates at food courts and hawker centers to the nearest tray collection center, instead of behaving like a pet in someone’s home.

3. Use public toilets and other public spaces like you would use if you were at home, instead of thinking it’s someone else’s problem. (A tourist once told us the most fascinating thing he saw here was a sign indicating we should not take a piss in our elevators)

4. Dumping your rubbish in your housing estate at the appropriate place.

As clichéd as it sounds, it takes two hands to clap. Singaporeans first have to rise up to the challenge set forth by the rest of the world, and if our government continues backing its citizens, we are sure this generation, just like the last, would be able to outperform its global peers.

 

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