Committee of Supply – Head S (Ministry of Manpower)

Head S (cont) –

Resumption of Debate on Question [2 March 2021],

"That the total sum to be allocated for Head S of the Estimates be reduced by $100." – [Mr Desmond Choo].

Question again proposed.

11.01 am

The Minister for Manpower (Mrs Josephine Teo): Mr Chairman, I thank the Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) and other Members who have spoken passionately.

Twenty-twenty was an unusual year for MOM. With the COVID-19 pandemic, two battlefronts opened up. In terms of pandemic control, MOM was involved in managing the inflows of work pass holders and the outbreak in the migrant worker dormitories. On the economic front, we faced the sharpest employment contraction in decades.

In March last year, I had said that MOM would review the housing arrangements for our migrant workers, raise standards, improve well-being and be better prepared for a next pandemic. In August, we set up a new dedicated group in MOM, the Assurance, Care and Engagement (ACE) team, to provide better support to our migrant workers.

We have made good progress. We are reviewing plans to expand coverage of the Foreign Employees Dormitory Act (FEDA). And we will pilot a Migrant Workers' On-boarding Centre. Later, Second Minister Dr Tan See Leng will detail the steps we intend to take to transform the landscape for migrant workers.

On the jobs front, we have started 2021 on a firmer footing. Were this not so, we will be having a very different debate. Resident employment has rebounded to slightly above pre-COVID-19 levels. Resident unemployment rate has fallen since October last year. In January, resident unemployment further moderated to 4.3%.

Throughout the crisis, our workforce has shown remarkable resilience. Employers too heeded the call to retain their Singaporean Core.

On its part, the Government provided strong support for local employment. Many more Singaporeans stayed employed because of the Jobs Support Scheme (JSS), plus the SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package. At the same time, we tightened controls on foreign manpower to account for the slack in the labour market.

But there is more work to be done. Unemployment and long-term unemployment rates are still elevated. Even for those employed, some are in short-term or transitional positions.

With this as backdrop, MOM has three overarching priorities. In the short term, we must secure the rebound by shoring up hiring of locals. As Mr Desmond Choo reminds us, we should not, for a moment, assume this will be easy. Beyond immediate concerns, we must not lose sight of the medium and longer term. Digitalisation, remote work, widening income gaps and an ageing workforce will continue to challenge us. We must aim to overcome the crisis and help every segment of the workforce emerge stronger.

To do this well, our employers are critical. Their capacity to innovate and become more productive will determine how much we can improve job quality over time. In supporting business transformation, we will pay particular attention to SMEs.

With your permission, Mr Chairman, I have asked the Clerk to place some reference materials on Members' seats.

Securing our rebound. Given the uncertainties that still persist, the job market may take a while to recover. Our aim is two-fold. First, for employers, shore up hiring demand. Second, for workers, seize better opportunities.

As announced by Deputy Prime Minister, we will extend the SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package. Mr Liang Eng Hwa has asked how these programmes will help.

From September to October 2020, we estimate that the Jobs Growth Incentive (JGI) supported over 110,000 new local hires, by around 26,000 employers. These 110, 000 represent roughly 5% of the workforce. In two short months, such a movement into growing companies is not insignificant, especially when we consider the hiring weakness. About half of the new hires were aged 40 and above. Prof Hoon Hian Teck will be interested to know that one-third of the JGI-supported hires switched into new sectors, possibly a re-allocation towards jobs with better future prospects.

JGI may also be helping to address the issue of unemployment and under-employment which Mr Patrick Tay was concerned about. Around three in 10 JGI hires were not previously in a job; majority had been out of work for more than six months. In other words, the JGI uplifted those who were long-term unemployed as well. More than six in 10, got the same or higher pay than their last-drawn.

To reduce scarring, we must be ready to deal with further displacements. Without JGI lubricating the process, the movement of workers into growing firms and industries will likely be slower. A JGI extension of seven months is helpful, and we will assess what is needed after September. It comes on top of long-standing schemes like WSG's career conversion programmes.

Since 2016, we have facilitated over 34,000 placements or redeployments through WSG's Career Conversion Programmes. Before 2020, WSG placed on average of 5,000 annually. Last year, we placed over 13,000, including a spike in re-deployments. This year, despite more subdued employer interest, we have catered capacity for 10,000 places.

Contrary to Dr Jamus Lim's suggestion, the Professional Conversion Programmes have well-documented outcomes. About 90% of the participants remained employed after 18 months. About seven in 10 earned more than their last drawn salary.

Mr Desmond Choo and Dr Lim can be assured that such conversion programmes will remain a core feature of our system of employment support.

As for the JGI, this remains an extraordinary measure. Employers should not delay their local hiring, in the hope that the JGI will be available indefinitely. I hope Dr Lim agrees that some urgency on the part of employers helps jobseekers.

At the same time, I hope employers take note of the enhanced support when they hire mature workers, persons with disabilities and ex-offenders. As noted by Members Mr Yip Hon Weng, Ms Ng Ling Ling and Mr Eric Chua, these jobseekers face greater difficulties. This is why we will provide 50% support for the first $6,000 of gross monthly wages, for up to 18 months. Altogether, employers can receive up to $54,000 for each eligible hire.

Even with the substantial support provided under the JGI, we are realistic that not all employers can expand hiring. This is why we extended the SGUnited Traineeships, SGUnited Mid-Career Pathways and Skills programmes. Minister of State Gan Siow Huang will say more about the enhancements for the SGUnited Traineeships Programme and on the SGUnited Skills Programme at MOE's COS.

For all unemployed jobseekers, until a suitable job materialises, these traineeships and attachments are the best way to be supported. I thank Dr Lim for recognising that "Singapore already has most of the elements of an end-to-end safety net in place including the functional equivalent of unemployment insurance". Prof Hoon thoughtfully highlighted the irony of unemployment insurance in heightening or even prolonging unemployment. NTUC also recognises its limitations.

Unemployment or redundancy insurance, which Dr Lim also calls for, can indeed provide useful income relief.

But they cannot replace efforts to help people get back to work. Insurance payouts also may not match the allowances we are providing. Many unemployed persons will not qualify for any redundancy payout. They include new graduates just entering the workforce, workers who were dismissed, whose contracts ended and were not renewed. Nonetheless, we agree with Mr Patrick Tay not to foreclose these options. MOM will continue to study their merits.

In the meantime, two key enhancements will make the attachments under the SGUnited Mid-Career Pathway Programme more attractive for mature individuals and their company hosts. Participants aged 40 and above can receive higher training allowances of up to $3,800, compared to $3,000 previously. Host organisations will share just 10% of the allowance, compared to 20% previously. With this enhancement, it is even more affordable to host someone with years of work experience than a new job entrant.

To ensure that jobseekers can access help, WSG expanded its outreach significantly. For the first time, career matching services were brought to the heartlands at scale, with the SGUnited Jobs and Skills centres in all 24 HDB towns. Thanks to the close partnership across Government agencies, with unions and employers, WSG placed close to 55,000 locals into jobs, traineeships and attachments. This is 70% higher than what we achieved in 2019.

This work does not stop. WSG is continuing to innovate to provide better support to our jobseekers. No jobseeker need ever walk alone. WSG has been and will always be a pathfinder for you.

Mr Chairman, many Members of Parliament have asked what we can do to fortify our workforce in the post-COVID-19 world. We have always operated on the principle of fairness at work, for both individuals and employers, to maintain cohesiveness in an open economy. Every worker segment must have a fair chance to emerge stronger. Businesses must have fair support to succeed.

Apart from securing the rebound, we will have five key thrusts. For lower wage workers (LWWs), we will focus on equality, mobility and dignity. For mature workers, we will address concerns over employability and retirement adequacy. For self-employed persons, women, and persons with disabilities, our focus is on inclusion and progression. For our PMETs workforce, we need fair opportunities, quality and diversity. For migrant workers and foreign domestic workers, we need a renewed focus on safety, health and wellness.

Let me focus on lower wage workers. Over the years, our income gap has narrowed. Incomes at the 20th percentile grew faster than the median. This decade, our ambition is to build on these gains and significantly grow incomes at the lower end. Workfare, which the Government introduced in 2007, will remain a permanent feature of our social safety net, boosting incomes at the lower end and moderating inequality.

But wages must go up, while preserving options to work. We agree with Dr Koh Poh Koon, Mayor Fahmi and Mr Pritam Singh that it is only fair for essential services workers to be better recognised for their efforts. As a society, we must be willing to accord dignity through paying better salaries to those at the lowest end.

We must also create pathways for these workers to progress. I am very glad Mr Raj Joshua recognises this as the true value of the Progressive Wage Model (PWM). No one should dismiss its meaningfulness to workers, whatever the age of these workers.

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This is why in October last year, with the encouragement of Deputy Prime Minister Heng, I sought the support of Secretary-General NTUC and President SNEF to set up the Tripartite Workgroup on Lower Wage Workers.

The Workgroup is making good progress. It has developed an ambitious plan and detailed roadmap for a major expansion of the PWM. We will start by introducing PWM to the food service and retail sectors. In cleaning, security and landscaping, in-house workers will be covered. We will also work out ways to introduce PWM to other occupational groups, what Dr Koh calls vocational PWM. Senior Minister of State Zaqy who chairs the Workgroup will provide more details in his speech.

Mr Chairman, Singapore has what it takes to uplift the lives of our lower wage workers and their families. In doing so, we will become a better and more cohesive society.

Mr Chairman, let me turn now to mature workers. We have tended to put everyone 40 and above into the same category of "mature workers". However, one can almost see two distinct generations within this group, with vastly different educational and work experiences.

The group now aged 55 to 69 were born in pre-Independence Singapore, from 1951 to 1965. One-third of this group have below Secondary school qualifications. Fewer than 30% have a diploma or degree. Nonetheless, given the widespread expansion of opportunities, nearly 40% hold PMET jobs.

The group now aged 40 to 54 were born in post-Independence Singapore, from 1966 to 1980. Only 10% have below Secondary school qualifications. Over 60% have a diploma or degree. Nearly 70% hold PMET jobs.

As a result of these differences, a 2019 MOF study had some interesting findings when it compared Singaporeans born in the 1950s and 1970s. In terms of median real income, the younger group earned twice as much as the older group when both were in their 40s. In terms of median real Ordinary and Special Account CPF balances, the younger group had three times as much as the older group.

For the older age group, it is fair that they have the opportunity to work longer. It will help them build up more for retirement. In this regard, I fully agree with NTUC Deputy Secretary-General brother Heng Chee How and Mr Yip Hon Weng. We should avoid a disruption of our plans to raise the retirement and re-employment ages.

Therefore, from 1 July 2022, the statutory minimum Retirement Age will go up from 62 to 63. The statutory Re-employment Age will also go up from 67 to 68. As earlier committed, the Public Service will proceed with these changes a year ahead of legislation. This will help to keep us on track to raise the Retirement Age to 65 and Re-employment Age to 70 by the end of this decade.

While we are asking more of our employers, we have also provided them fair support to make these adjustments. This is why we announced the $1.3 billion Senior Worker Support Package last year. Companies that raise their retirement and re-employment ages before it becomes compulsory, can apply for the Senior Worker Early Adopter Grant. Many senior workers will work longer if they can do so part-time, they tell us that. Employers that provide such opportunities can apply for the Part-time Re-employment Grant. Together with the support for job-redesign, which I will say more about later, this helps to address Ms Ng Ling Ling’s concerns about broadening the range of jobs for senior workers.

Interest in these two grants has been high. Since they started in July last year, we have supported 1,700 companies with 17,000 senior worker beneficiaries. We will top up their budget by over $200 million to directly benefit about 75,000 seniors. But the larger goal is to create the momentum and shape a new norm among employers, where many more companies raise Retirement and Re-employment Ages to 65 and 70, well before 2030.

A senior who can leave the workforce at age 70 instead of 67 and defers the start of his CPF LIFE payouts accordingly, can get around 20% more per month for life.

Can it be more? Part of the answer lies in raising CPF contribution rates for those aged 55 and above. Two years ago, tripartite partners had agreed to set in motion a phased increase, starting from 2021. Due to COVID-19, this was deferred by a year to avoid worsening the employment prospects of older workers. Fortunately, despite the pandemic, senior employment has largely held up.

Tripartite partners therefore agree to push ahead, barring unforeseen circumstances, to raise senior worker CPF contribution rates from 1 January 2022. The CPF Transition Offset scheme will absorb half of the increase for employers in the first year. The impact will be further cushioned by the Senior Employment Credit which provides up to 8% wage offset to employers of senior workers for the next two years until the end of 2022. We will study the extension beyond 2022 and will update in due course.

As to Mr Louis Chua’s question on whether CPF members can earn higher returns, there is no magic formula. Higher returns come from taking higher risks. Prior to the pandemic, we had been studying if a Lifetime Retirement Investment Scheme (LRIS) can be introduced to help members who have the risk appetite and investment horizon but not enough investment knowledge. Recent events have altered the investment environment. We need to update our planning assumptions and strike the right balance between risk and return in our design of LRIS. I seek Members’ understanding that we will update when ready.

Sir, I have outlined changes to the Retirement and Re-employment Age plus CPF that will also benefit the mature workers still in their 40s and 50s, provided they remain in the workforce.

Everywhere in the world, automation and digital advances have shifted labour demand towards higher level skills. At all levels including PMETs, perfectly competent people can be at risk of displacement, unless they upskill. Even in China, McKinsey estimates that up to 220 million workers may need to reskill for new occupations from 2018 to 2030. That is almost 30% of the Chinese workforce.

We must try and make the best of these trends. We can help our people pick up new skills and move into new jobs. With our strong educational foundation and build-up of the continuing education and training eco-system, we can turn this challenge into an opportunity for Singaporeans. By doing it better than other countries, we can strengthen our competitiveness.

This must be complemented by new job creation and upgrading of existing jobs, both of which comes from pervasive business transformation, including that by the SMEs. I will say more about its nexus with workforce transformation later.

But let me highlight two concerns. A previous survey in Singapore observed that our older workers are more dependent than their younger peers on employers’ guidance to attend training. Yet a recent study by the World Economic Forum suggests that in addressing new business opportunities, employers in Singapore are less likely than countries like Japan and Australia to re-skill existing workers, choosing instead to hire new staff who they can plug-and-play.

These attitudes must change. It must become the norm for employers in Singapore to build on the transferable skills of mature workers to meet new business opportunities. At the same time, we also need mature workers to take greater ownership of their skills upgrading. A new norm of continuous re-invention must take root, as Ms Janet Ang also envisioned.

Brother Abdul Samad would be pleased to note that the career conversion programmes benefited 12,600 mature individuals in the last three years, and we want to go further.

This year, we will introduce new programmes for in-demand jobs in growing sectors such as Manufacturing, Information Communications and Technology to provide fair opportunities for our mature as well as all jobseekers. The training and salary support in these programmes come on top of the enhanced JGI. As a result, employers can get up to 95% of the costs covered. It is very generous and the right way to recognise employers and workers for making the effort. Sir, in Mandarin.

(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted livelihoods and disrupted our lives, but we must continue to press on with some far-reaching policies. Therefore, we will continue with our plans to raise the retirement and re-employment ages to 63 and 68 respectively from July next year. We will also raise the CPF contribution rates for senior workers from January next year to help them accumulate more retirement savings.

The full support and cooperation of all employers is critical to ensure the new policies benefit senior workers. Last year, the Government introduced the $1.3 billion Senior Worker Support Package to help companies adjust their operations to continue employing senior workers. In one year, even with the current COVID-19 outbreak, 1,700 companies have tapped government subsidies to bring forward their plans to implement the new retirement and re-employment ages, as well as create part-time roles, to help 17,000 senior workers remain in the workforce.

To encourage and support more employers, the Ministry of Manpower has decided to top up $230 million for the two subsidies. At the same time, we will help employers defray the business costs of the increased CPF contribution rates for senior workers.

The goal of allowing our elderly to realise their dreams to continue contributing at work during their golden years and enjoy old age after retirement is not out of reach. As long as the tripartite partners, companies and the elderly work together, we will be able to build a fulfilling and fruitful golden era for the elderly in Singapore.

(In English): Sir, let me now signpost the direction for self-employed persons (SEPs). For well over a decade, our SEPs have consistently made up 8% to 10% of the resident workforce. They are not a homogenous group and can be found in over 200 occupations.

In recent years, we have seen the rise of SEPs who use online matching platforms to get their work, or gig workers. About 3% of our resident workforce could be considered "gig workers". They mostly worked as private hire car and taxi drivers, or drivers for delivery services. Majority say they prefer to be self-employed.

Because of their diversity, we should avoid a one-size-fits-all approach to supporting SEPs. Instead, we have three areas of focus.

11.30 am

First, we will support SEPs who wish to switch to regular employment. One such example is Mr Nazry Zakaria, who transitioned from being a freelance project manager and set designer, to a Creative Strategist at Unearthed Productions – this is the name of the company. To pick up digital marketing skillsets for his job, Mr Nazry participated in WSG’s Professional Conversion Programme for Digital Advertising Professionals. His income is now more stable and he has better opportunities for career development.

Second, we have started to help SEPs better meet healthcare and retirement needs. With the introduction of MediShield Life and CareShield Life, SEPs are generally well-protected against major medical expenses even without employer-provided benefits. The gap lies in the risk of income loss should illness prevent them from working, as SEPs do not have paid medical leave. This is why we worked with insurers to introduce prolonged medical leave (PML) insurance. They now cover almost 40,000 SEP drivers and riders.

We also introduced the Contribute-As-You-Earn (or CAYE) scheme for SEPs providing services to Government procurement entities. With CAYE, SEPs have a convenient way to build up their medical balances. In 2020, the first year of implementation, about 95% of SEPs remained on CAYE, although they could have opted out. About 4,000 SEPs made CAYE contributions. They received close to $1 million in matched MediSave contributions from the Government, as part of a one-off incentive to help SEPs transit to CAYE. Nevertheless, we are aware that many SEPs had to defer their income and MediSave contributions. Hence, we will extend the qualifying period to receive matched MediSave contributions for another year, till 31 December 2021, to provide more time for SEPs to fully benefit from this transition package. With the encouraging take-up of CAYE in the public sector, we will study if the scheme should be extended to SEPs serving the private sector. We will consult the relevant industry stakeholders before doing so.

The third area of focus is to find a better balance in the arrangements between “gig workers” and their intermediaries that deploy their services. As Mr Patrick Tay and Mr Louis Chua had suggested, one way is to provide basic employment rights for SEPs. But this is not straightforward. In Italy, for example, “gig workers” dependent on one buyer or intermediary for their work, are categorised as dependent contractors and entitled to partial employment rights. This provided added protection to the dependent contractors but also incentivised employers to reclassify regular employees as dependent contractors instead.

In California, the legislative moves have swung like a pendulum. But as several MPs have highlighted, the latest ruling by the UK Supreme Court may have turned the tide decisively towards recognising Uber drivers as “workers”. In this regard, we welcome the NTUC’s keen interest to strengthen representation of SEPs and freelancers. In general, such workers can already form associations and be affiliated to NTUC. Examples include the National Taxi Association and the recently-announced National Delivery Champions Association. Collectively, about 47,500 SEPs are already part of the labour movement.

Likewise, in terms of work injuries, SEPs do have some protection. Key platform intermediaries like Grab, Gojek and Deliveroo, already extend free personal accident insurance coverage to the SEPs who they place in jobs. Nonetheless, we acknowledge Mr Pritam Singh’s point that coverage is not uniform and collective bargaining is still not available.

In the Addendum to the President’s Address last year, we said that we would review the responsibilities of service-buyers and intermediaries to bring about a fairer and more balanced relationship with their self-employed workers. In doing so, we will take into account the need to be fair, yet practical, recognising the usefulness of work opportunities provided by the intermediaries and the need to secure better outcomes for workers.

Sir, having covered the priorities of our local workforce, let me turn to our foreign workforce. The views raised by Members on our foreign workforce fall into two broad clusters. On the one hand, Mr Edward Chia and Ms Cheng Li Hui suggested greater access to foreign manpower for some sectors, to address persistent shortages. On the other, Mr Patrick Tay and Brother Abdul Samad emphasised localisation and strengthening the Singaporean Core, which requires reducing reliance on foreign manpower. Sir, this is a tension that MOM grapples with continuously.

Our fundamental objective is always to serve the interests of Singaporean workers. Access to foreign workers is meant to help grow a larger economic pie than we otherwise can. Therefore, the foreign workforce must act as a complement to our local workforce.

At the Work Permit level, the Services sector is our baseline for foreign workforce policies, with a Dependency Ratio Ceiling, or DRC, of 35%. Services account for three quarters of our workforce. We already recognise that some sectors are less attractive to locals. Manufacturing, for example, has a DRC of 60%, at the operators' level. Construction, Marine Shipyard and Process sectors get even more.

There is a limit to how much further we can differentiate within Services. The sub-sectors, which lobby the hardest, already hire the big majority of work permits in Services. If we relax quotas for each one of them, it amounts to raising the overall DRC for Services. Instead, as Ms Foo Mee Har has called for, we will focus on helping companies become more manpower-lean and strengthen their Singaporean Core. Many firms have already started on this journey. In the last three years, an average of 20,800 firms benefited annually through the Lean Enterprise Development Scheme.

Meanwhile, periodic adjustments will continue to be made to the Local Qualifying Salary, to ensure that locals are not hired on a token salary in order to access foreign worker quota. We will hold off further increases this year to give firms time to recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Over the last few years, we have also updated the S Pass policy. We have made cuts to the S Pass sub-DRC in Services, Construction, Marine Shipyard and Process sectors. As mentioned by the Deputy Prime Minister in his Budget speech, we will also reduce the S Pass sub-DRC in Manufacturing gradually, from 20% to 18% next year, and to 15% in 2023. In addition, we raised the S Pass qualifying salary twice last year and extended the Fair Consideration Framework (FCF) job advertising requirement to cover S Passes to ensure that locals are considered fairly for these jobs.

Ms Hazel Poa expressed disappointment there were no more cuts other than for S Passes in manufacturing. Ms Poa may not have been in Parliament for the last few years to know of all the adjustments we have made. Nonetheless, I urge her to consider the points made by Mr Liang Eng Hwa. Whatever her criticism, the foreign workforce accounted for all of our employment contraction in 2020. I would not say foreign workforce policies alone made this happen, but they certainly played a part.

We will continue to review our S Pass levers, including the qualifying salary, quotas and levies. This will be done together with efforts to transform industries and upskill the local workforce. Over this decade, employers should expect further changes to S Pass rules to be phased in. I encourage them to start making the efforts to strengthen their local talent pipeline at this level.

At the Employment Pass (EP) level, our aim is two-fold. First, we will continue to ensure that foreign professionals complement our local PME workforce. The salary threshold is by no means a perfect gatekeeper of quality, but it is easy to understand and administer. We raised the qualifying salary for EP holders twice last year and will explore possible refinements to how we do so. Ms Janet Ang and Mr Saktiandi Supaat who spoke about worldwide shortages in tech and digital skills will understand why we do not set a quota on EPs. Doing so will limit our ability to compete for the most cutting-edge investments and sophisticated activities, and hurt Singaporeans’ prospects in the longer term. In any case, as Mr Melvin Yong and Mr Sharael Taha pointed out, knowledge workers can increasingly work from anywhere. This must temper our expectations regarding the usefulness of further EP controls, like levies, which Mr Leong Mun Wai has advocated.

Second, we will ensure employers practise fair hiring and improve the diversity of their foreign PMET workforce. It is wrong for employers to disregard qualified local candidates because of discrimination. MOS Gan will say more in her speech.

To comments by Brother Abdul Samad, Mr Saktiandi Supaat and Mr Pritam Singh regarding the Capability Transfer Programme (CTP), Deputy Prime Minister Heng noted that it is one of many to facilitate capability development. In general, we do not depend on any single programme to achieve better employment outcomes. Other agencies, besides WSG, have introduced or enhanced complementary capability development schemes. For example, ESG has the Global Ready Talent Programme. It supports Singapore enterprises in building young talent pipeline through internships and overseas work opportunities. All the programmes that have helped to recruit, reskill or redeploy local PMETs, reduced the need to rely on foreign professionals.

The CTP remains a useful complement to sector-specific schemes, as well as broad-based schemes like LEDS and JGI. We have committed about $5 million so far under CTP, and employers have to co-fund part of the costs. The supported projects span over 20 sectors, and we welcome more businesses to use it. As announced, we will extend it to September 2024.

For consistency with recent work pass moves, we will also regularise the work arrangements of Dependant Pass (DP) holders. The vast majority of DP holders do not work during their stay in Singapore. DP holders who have sought employment in Singapore via a Letter of Consent (LOC) constitute only about 1% of all Work Pass holders. From 1 May 2021, DP holders who wish to work during their stay in Singapore will be directed to apply for a relevant work pass, such as an EP, S Pass or Work Permit. We will provide sufficient time for existing DP holders working on a Letter of Consent (LOC), as well as their employers, to transit to this new arrangement. Most of them meet prevailing work pass criteria. Those that do not, will have to cease working in Singapore.

Sir, several Members have asked for more support for workforce transformation. Transformation should serve a purpose to create better jobs, better skills and, therefore, better pay and better prospects. All of these cannot be achieved without better businesses. It is why workforce transformation and business transformation go hand in hand.

Many studies have attempted to predict jobs of the future. They are useful signposts and help us create the conditions to keep businesses thriving. For example, we invest heavily to build up digital access and capabilities – Minister Iswaran said quite a lot about it yesterday. However, the extent and manner in which the future jobs materialise will depend on the entrepreneurial zeal of our businesses to disrupt the status quo and seize new opportunities.

To sustain better pay over time, there is no short cut to raising productivity. This is rarely achieved by just up-skilling or re-skilling the workers. At the firm level, work processes must change and jobs redesigned. Otherwise, the new skills have limited impact. In Chinese, we say, “英雄无用武之地”. At the industry level, business norms must evolve and innovations embraced.

Again, these decisions depend very much on the dynamism and foresight of our business leaders, as pointed out by Mr Henry Kwek and Ms Janet Ang. It includes dealing with the threats and opportunities of remote working within and across national borders.

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Strengthening business capabilities and promoting innovation comes within the purview of our sectoral agencies. MOM too, has a keen interest because the future of our workforce depends very much on it.

On our part, we will pay particular attention to SMEs, a point which Ms Yeo Wan Ling has raised. They deserve a fair chance to succeed. Our partners, SNEF and many trade associations and chambers (TACs) tell us that SMEs face bigger difficulties in their quest to transform. This is understandable and we will help in several ways.

First, how to transform jobs. A good example is our logistics sector. In 2019, an interagency team, including the Economic Development Board (EDB), Enterprise Singapore (ESG) and WSG studied the impact of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) on the logistics sector in the next three to five years. The study systematically identified how 56 existing job roles will evolve and how 12 new job roles will emerge. As it turns out, more than half of the existing logistics jobs will experience a medium to high degree of change.

Logistics companies are taking reference from the findings to invest in new systems and reskill their staff. For a warehouse supervisor, the job role can evolve from manually recording inventory to operating automated storage and retrieval systems.

WSG supports these through existing Professional Conversion Programmes, as well as the new Place-and-Train programme for Supply Chain and Logistics Coordinators.

We will set aside close to $10 million over the next two years for more of such Jobs Transformation Maps (JTMs). So, we have the ITMs and we have the JTMS. Three JTMs have been completed and we have plans for another 12. They will help the TACs and SMEs alike with their workforce planning.

In addition, we expanded the Productivity Solutions Grant to also support job re-design. There is a panel of pre-approved consultancy firms. They bridge the knowledge gaps for companies to develop and implement job redesign solutions. This year, we raised the subsidy to 80%. I urge businesses to take advantage of the enhanced support before it expires in a year.

Second, how to help SMEs attract talents. Close to 31,000 SME employers have benefited the JGI and SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package.

We will help companies looking for local talent to also get professional assistance. We recently appointed five best-in-class employment agencies under a new Human Capital Partnership programme. They help employers consider talented locals they may sometimes overlook, by focusing on their transferable skills and relevant experience. We also have the P-Max programme which has placed over 7,800 PMETs into 7,300 SMEs in the last five years.

We want our SMEs to succeed. Ultimately, their ability to transform themselves will spur our workforce to be transformed too.

Mr Chairman, I have outlined MOM's priorities this year. In the short term, we will need to secure the rebound by shoring up hiring of locals. In the medium and longer term, we must help every segment of the workforce emerge stronger, including our migrant and foreign domestic workers. We will support our businesses to transform, especially our SMEs, so that we succeed together. We will keep strengthening fairness and support for workers.

Let me conclude by emphasising the importance of tripartism again. Few countries have the extraordinary advantage we do. Its value was reinforced when COVID-19 struck. Without the reservoir of trust between the tripartite partners, many issues would not have been resolved quickly. In Luxembourg, we saw trouble. In France, unions called for a nationwide strike to denounce the French government's pandemic response, disrupting essential services for many citizens.

In Singapore, both workers and employers accepted the many painful adjustments we made. NTUC sprung into action. Its Job Security Council helped many workers retain their jobs or move into new jobs. Employers too helped to preserve a strong Singaporean Core, even if they had to downsize.

Once again, I thank Members for your many suggestions and support to MOM. The COVID-19 pandemic did not just test the resilience of our workforce. Tripartism was also tested and we are emerging stronger. [Applause.]

The Second Minister for Manpower (Dr Tan See Leng): Mr Chairman, it has been over a year since the pandemic started. As of today, over 114 million individuals all over the world have been infected and more than two million have died. We have been fortunate, with a whole-of-Government effort and everyone's support, patience and cooperation.

After successfully bringing the COVID-19 outbreak in our migrant worker dormitories under control, we continue to maintain tight measures to minimise transmission. These include safe management measures, rostered routine testing every 14 days as well as through distribution of contact tracing devices to our migrant workers.

In 2020, the construction, marine and process or CMP workforce has shrunk considerably, by about 15%. The CMP workers are the main occupants of our dormitories. With fewer workers and with more safe management measures, there have been significant project delays which impact completion timelines for on-going construction projects. This cannot continue indefinitely.

We are now able to progressively bring in new migrant workers to support our businesses. However, let us not be mistaken. This, by no means, represents that we have won the battle. In fact, as I have alluded to in my previous speech at the end of last year, we have just reached base camp. This base camp is different in that unlike Mount Everest or any mountain peak where we know where the full height of that peak is, for this particular crisis, we really do not know where that peak is.

Early this year, as the global COVID-19 situation worsened, we tightened measures to contain the risk of spread from imported infections. We introduced on-arrival tests and an additional post-Stay-Home Notice seven-day testing process for CMP workers. This essentially means that the Stay-Home Notice (SHN) for these workers has been extended to 21 days. This further mitigates and minimises any risks of an imported case from transmitting the virus into the dormitories or into the worksites.

But our work is far from done. Continuous adaptation and improvement have helped us to bring the pandemic under the current state of control. But even as we continue to battle the evolving global and local situation, we continue to take on board the valuable lessons that we have learnt from the past many months of managing this current pandemic.

To prepare for future pandemics, we will transform our migrant worker landscape in three key areas.

First, we will fortify the upstream entry controls and measures for migrant workers. This is done so that we can minimise the transmission risks of new workers arriving on our shores and to ensure that they are properly onboarded before they move into our community.

Second, we will strengthen the resilience of our dormitories. This includes conducting a comprehensive review of the housing standards of our dormitories, strengthening regulatory controls, to enable us to continuously raise housing standards across various the dormitory types and sizes.

Third, we will also ensure the sustainability of all of our efforts to assure, to care for and to engage with our migrant workers. We will do so through cost-effective healthcare, establishing a migrant worker volunteer network to deepen our engagement with them, as well as partnering with our non-governmental organisations (NGOs), employers and community organisations.

On the first initiative, that of fortifying migrant workers' entry and onboarding process. Renewed inflows of migrant workers will be needed to continue to meet the needs of our growing economy. But at the same time, we need to ensure that good public health outcomes are achieved.

To do so, we have set up a Migrant Worker Onboarding Centre (MWOC). This is a one-stop centre to pilot an end-to-end onboarding process for all CMP sector work permit and S Pass holders entering Singapore. There are three elements to this: first, the Stay-Home Notice (SHN) period; second, an enhanced medical examination; and thirdly, an orientation and Settling-In-Programme (SIP) for these migrant workers.

The journey for a migrant worker to safely enter Singapore can be segmented into three zones.

First, the green zone. This refers to the upstream precautionary efforts in the source countries. Today, before migrant workers depart for Singapore, they are required to take a COVID-19 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test in their country and produce a negative PCR result within 72 hours before their departure. Robust pre-departure tests (PDT) will minimise imported cases and allow more workers to come in.

There are some employers already taking extra precautions in verifying the health status of their workers by even employing the use of serology tests before departure. This is over and above the PCR test. This allows employers to identify workers who have recovered from COVID-19 so that the public health measures that we are going to adopt on arrival can be more targeted.

Second, the blue zone. This refers to what we do here in Singapore. When they arrive here, we have introduced a combination of on arrival PCR test as well as serology tests. This allows us to better differentiate recent infections from the recovered persons can still be intermittently shedding the virus but they are no longer contagious. For example, for these workers who are found to be already recovered, we can exempt them from SHN. All other CMP sector workers from higher risk countries are now required to serve 21 days – first 14-day SHN plus another additional seven-day testing process as a further precaution. And this is where our one-stop MWOC comes in.

At the MWOC, while the workers are undergoing the additional seven-day testing process, they will also go through a residential onboarding programme, comprising: one, the enhanced medical examination; and two, the orientation and the SIP that I have alluded to earlier.

This enhanced medical examination programme will entail more comprehensive and rigorous screening to enable appropriate health support and interventions. For example, workers above the age of 40 or with risk factors will also be screened for chronic illnesses like diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. This enables us to identity these risks and have more effective targeted downstream patient care. It also reduces potential work disruptions and unexpected medical costs for employers from untreated health conditions.

The residential settling-in programme will inculcate better dormitory living and worksite practices amongst migrant workers who have just arrived here and help them understand their employment rights, the kind of good health practices and Singapore's social norms. For instance, workers will learn to adopt the safe management measures, learn how to use contact tracing devices and SafeEntry check-in as well as the Foreign Worker MOMCare (FWMOMCare) app to monitor their temperature, update daily health status and access telemedicine if symptoms are reported. Our guest migrant workers will learn when and how to seek help when they are unwell or when they need assistance with employment disputes.

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Third, the white zone. This refers to the time when the workers have cleared all these check-ups and when they can move into their respective residences and adopt safe living measures both at work as well as in the community.

This MWOC brings together various entry processes as one efficient, seamless, integrated end-to-end process. Centralising and coordinating the operations and functions together also facilitates faster reaction times as well as allowing us to adapt and be able to pre-empt better preparation for future pandemics. It benefits employers, workers and the general community in Singapore.

For employers, bringing the processes together helps to lower the risk of transmission from imported cases, enabling the entry of more migrant workers to support our businesses where they are needed. Employers, especially the small and medium enterprises (SMEs), will have the benefit of the MWOC providing an end-to-end SHN and onboarding service, compared to now, where each employer would have to arrange for the medical screening and Settling-In-Programme (SIP) on their own after their workers have completed their SHN.

For workers, the onboarding programme will help them start their employment in Singapore on the right footing, with them knowing their rights. The MWOC will also provide the flexibility to adjust SHN as well as testing measures in the blue zone, depending on the volatility and the fluctuation of the situation in the source country where they come from in the green zone. So, we can calibrate it appropriately. This is done in order to safeguard the safety and the health of the workers as well as our general community in the white zone.

Ms Sylvia Lim highlighted her concerns of households and businesses of the uncertainty when bringing in migrant workers. This MWOC is part of our efforts to minimise COVID-19 importation risk and we hope that this will also serve to minimise other types of future infectious disease importation risks, so that we can bring in sufficient numbers of workers to support the needs of our economy.

We adjust the entry numbers in a very dynamic fashion – depending on the infection transmission risk in each one of the home countries, depending on the risk levels and the regions that our workers come from. We facilitate the entry of foreign workers as required for key infrastructural projects. We have also been responsive and we have provided a higher degree of certainty to employers as well as households.

Entry approvals are allocated on a first-come-first-served basis by the chosen arrival date, and we facilitate, where it is needed, families to come and enter together. Entry applications will get an outcome by the next working day. Employers will also be advised on the next available arrival window should applications for their chosen arrival dates be unsuccessful.

Mr Desmond Choo, Mr Mohd Fahmi Aliman, Miss Rachel Ong and Mr Louis Ng asked how we can and we will improve the standards of dormitories, including smaller sites as well as factory-converted dormitories.

Today, we have a variety of migrant worker dormitories – the Purpose Built Dormitories (PBDs), the Factory Converted Dormitories (FCDs), the Construction Temporary Quarters (CTQs) and the Temporary Occupancy License Quarters (TOLQs). Sixty percent of the 280,000 migrant workers in dormitories stay in just 50 large dormitories with beds of 1,000 or more and they are regulated under the Foreign Employee Dormitories Act (FEDA). Forty percent of them are in the numerous FCDs, CTQs and TOLQs.

All dormitories, whether regulated under FEDA or not, are subjected to a set of regulatory requirements set by the various Government agencies, covering areas such as building and fire safety, minimum living and hygiene standards. FEDA imposes additional requirements in areas such as public health and safety, security and public order, and the provision of social and commercial facilities as well as services.

Our experience in containing this pandemic in the dormitories highlighted the need to strengthen our regulatory levers in order to enable us to raise and enforce housing standards very quickly across the various dormitory types and sizes, and to introduce new housing standards to make dormitory living more resilient to public health risks. We are thus reviewing the scope of FEDA to expand it to cover all dormitories, regardless of size.

This will allow us to bring the regulation of all dormitories – that means it covers the FCDs, the CTQs and the TOLQs – under one single Act. We are going to introduce consistency in terms of housing standards and safe living requirements in all the dormitories through this FEDA expansion.

This will allow MOM to prevent and more quickly contain disease outbreaks in the dormitories. Requirements to create more isolation bed facilities, stringent infection control measures, and ensure dormitory residents' well-being, had to be implemented on non-FEDA dormitories through the COVID‑19 (Temporary Measures) (Control Order). When we expand the scope of FEDA, this would empower MOM to directly and quickly impose safe living and infection control requirements.

This also enables MOM to implement a consistent framework of housing standards across dormitories of different sizes and types. We will have common requirements that apply across the board such as cleanliness, space and ventilation as well as additional requirements that depend on the dormitory's size such as recreational facilities in some of the larger dormitories.

We will engage stakeholders in the coming months to review and to get their input in terms of expanding the scope of FEDA. We will consider the details of the regulatory framework by incorporating their feedback. We hope to complete this review and provide more details in the second half of 2021.

Miss Cheng Li Hui and Ms Hazel Poa asked whether dormitory standards will be adjusted and how the higher costs arising from future improved dormitory standards will be managed.

As most migrant workers continue to live in communal settings, it is critical to improve, better prepare and future-proof our dormitories for future pandemics.

Since September 2020, we have progressively rolled out over 25,000 beds in Quick Build Dormitories (QBDs). To respond to the immediate COVID-19 challenges while strengthening the public health resilience of our dormitories against infectious disease outbreaks and enhancing living conditions for migrant workers, we have piloted a set of improved standards at these QBDs to test for their effectiveness, their feasibility and their economic viability and sustainability.

For example, the capacity in each QBD room is capped at 10 residents. This is in order for us to reduce inter-mixing amongst residents. Each QBD room is also fitted with en-suite toilets to minimise transmission risks from shared facilities. Kitchens, dining rooms and laundry areas also cater to smaller groups of residents. The principal basis is to de-densify all the rooms to facilitate the segregation of residents so that during a pandemic, we can quickly impose lockdowns in a very targeted and precise manner.

We are also conducting a holistic review on these improved standards to be applied to future new dormitories, keeping in mind that every new disease outbreak can be very different from the existing one. We are always working in close consultation with MOH, with public health experts and with the various stakeholders such as employers, migrant workers themselves, dormitory operators and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to gather all of their views in coming up with the new standards.

We will also draw on our experiences from the Quick Build Dormitories. In addition to infrastructure, we are also studying how contact tracing has enabled us to more accurately identify, isolate and quarantine close contacts in the event of a public health outbreak. There are also innovative processes and practices in dormitory management that can be adopted to improve overall standards in terms of infection prevention and control. We expect to finalise all of these standards later this year.

We recognise that higher standards may also result in higher costs for employers and dormitory operators. Many businesses would have locked in their costs in their existing projects and will now need time to adjust to higher migrant worker housing costs. Dormitory operators may also be more cautious in bidding to build and own new dormitories, given the current uncertain demand for migrant worker housing alongside the evolving COVID-19 situation.

The Government is studying the possibility of developing the upcoming PBDs on a different operating model compared to the current system, where land is released for commercial operators to bid, to build and to operate. We are studying each option very comprehensively and we will share our findings – and again, we will work with industry to get their feedback – in due course.

For existing dormitories, we will also consider how to progressively improve standards, pacing and phasing it so that the price fluctuations will not be steep and the gradient will be gradual; while ensuring competitive bed rental prices and a continuous, stable housing supply during the transition period. We will update on all these in due time.

Having put in place all the upstream and long-term measures explained earlier, we need to ensure that our efforts can be sustained for the longer term. Disease outbreaks will harm not just our valued workers, but disease outbreaks also have grave implications for employers, for the economy, for our resident population as a whole, and the provision of many services. It is in all of our interests to make sure that we continually take good care of our migrant workers.

COVID-19 provided the impetus for us to relook how we engage and support the migrant workers. We have to and will establish a resilient and safe support eco-system to care for them.

Ms Hazel Poa asked whether MOM has sufficient manpower to implement all of these ambitious plans. Since August 2020, we have set up the Assurance, Care, and Engagement (ACE) Group. ACE officers regularly check on the dormitories. We have also got the FAST teams come onsite to work with the migrant workers. This assures them of our continued interest in preserving their well-being. We continue to provide holistic physical, mental and social care for them. Our multi-layered strategy of regular testing and swift containment has also effectively helped to contain infections in the dormitories to the current very low levels.

This outbreak highlighted gaps in primary health care that migrant workers received pre-COVID-19. Often, migrant workers might delay or avoid seeking medical attention until the condition worsens significantly, with negative consequences for health, employment and work outcomes, both for the worker and the employer. The Government has since made it easier for migrant workers to access good primary healthcare. We will need to be able to sustain this for us to constantly survey and have sentinel reporting health clinics to detect public health threats early.

Today, about 200 workers use the 24-hour telemedicine service available to them via the FWMOMCare app on a daily basis. We have piloted 13 regional medical centres and further increased access by opening a night clinic in each of the West, Central and East regions of Singapore. About 500 workers a day receive medical support for non-acute respiratory illness (ARI) conditions like gastritis or chronic diseases like diabetes.

Beyond this pandemic period, we will take stock of the healthcare eco-system for migrant workers residing in dormitories and other housing types, to see how we can sustain the longer term access to primary healthcare in a cost-effective and culturally-sensitive way. For example, we hope that every migrant worker can be registered with a designated medical centre or GP clinic near where they live and work to foster better continuum of care and better doctor-patient relationships.

In this way, we will shift beyond episodic care to better manage chronic health conditions, including mental health. We have set up a Project DAWN taskforce. We have also introduced a seven-point mental health strategy comprising: (a) mental wellness promotion, (b) identification of at-risk patients/factors, (c) screening of mental health conditions, (d) surveillance of mental/emotional distress, (e) development and training of para-counsellors and counsellors, (f) timely escalation of care, and (g) provision of post-intervention support to complete and ensure a holistic mental health support eco-system for our migrant workers.

Employers remain responsible, ultimately, for providing and paying for their workers’ medical treatment. Hence, our review of primary healthcare support will also aim to keep these costs manageable. In a small minority of hospitalisation cases, employers can face large medical expenses. MOM is reviewing medical insurance coverage for migrant workers to help employers better manage their medical expenses, and to give both employers and workers a greater peace of mind. Again, we will provide an update later this year.

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COVID-19 vaccination will also be made available to migrant workers. When ready – and it will be ready soon – it will be accompanied by comprehensive communications in all of their native languages. This additional layer of protection strengthens our defences. We encourage, when the time comes, all of our employers and workers to get vaccinated to create a safer living and working environment for everyone.

Compared to 12, 13 months ago, we are much better equipped now to deal with the health pandemic. Most importantly, employers and migrant workers have shown a significant amount of trust, patience and support in the measures which we have had to implement.

One of the things we learnt is, that we were able to bring the COVID-19 situation in the dormitories under control because of the critical and crucial contributions of many, many volunteer networks who have helped workers overcome many of the fears and challenges that they face in Singapore, such as language barriers and the lack of social support.

Many NGO volunteers have helped to distribute food and care packs to our migrant workers. Many migrant worker volunteers have also stepped up to disseminate information to their peers in native languages and worked with MOM’s Forward Assurance and Support Teams (FAST) to deliver assistance at the dormitories.

Mr Muthaiah Diwakaran, a volunteer ambassador with the Migrant Workers’ Centre (MWC), has been in Singapore for about 20 years and currently resides at Cochrane Lodge 2. This is a purpose-built dormitory. He reaches out to care for his peers, takes questions on the latest worksite and dormitory measures, and encourages the workers to sign up for Gov.sg WhatsApp updates in their preferred language.

I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank all of you, volunteers, the various organisations and migrant workers, for bringing care, comfort and company to our fellow migrant workers during this period.

To better support and facilitate the outreach of more volunteer networks, ACE will partner key stakeholders to create a more structured eco-system to engage workers.

First, ACE will tap on existing volunteer networks, such as MWC’s volunteer ambassadors for a start, to set up a network of migrant worker volunteers in every dormitory with 100 or more residents. Through this network, ACE will partner dormitory operators, employers and NGOs to better communicate with migrant workers, to understand their needs and work collectively together to uplift their well-being.

Second, we will offer para-counselling training to our migrant worker volunteers to encourage peer support and better protect the mental health of our migrant workers.

The initiative under Project DAWN helps workers to identify signs of stress, help them to perform simple breathing exercises that can help them relieve their anxiety and learn where to find and access mental health support in Singapore.

Third, we will also support ground-up volunteer activities that can promote social cohesion amongst migrant communities. For International Migrants Day last year, we brought together 24 partner organisations and 180 volunteers to celebrate at eight Recreation Centres all across Singapore. We will do more to widen the circle of community volunteers.

We hope that this new engagement model will encourage migrant workers to step forward and co-create solutions. We are always a work-in-progress and we encourage everyone who has ideas to come forward and share with us, so that we can work collectively to improve everyone's livelihoods. And we encourage employers to give your fullest support to migrant workers who wish to serve their dormitory residents.

Ms Hazel Poa and Mr Pritam Singh asked about the enforcement of laws protecting migrant workers’ employment rights, such as cases of underpayment of salary. In general, foreign employees in Singapore are protected under the same civil and criminal laws as citizens for general crimes, employment matters, safety and health and injury claims.

We provide foreign employees with additional protection under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act or EFMA and the Employment Agencies Act or EAA. These prescribe the employers’ responsibilities for hiring foreign employees, such as supervision and proper deployment, prompt payment of salaries, provision of a safe working environment and ensuring acceptable accommodation. For the local employment agencies, we limit the fees in which they can charge workers.

We will investigate all salary and fee-related complaints, which include underpayment of salaries, collection of kickbacks or recovering of employment costs, and excessive recruitment fees. We will take necessary enforcement actions. Mr Singh asked for the details of the number of migrant workers who were unpaid and the details of restitution made. Between 2015 and 2019, 950 errant employers were caught for not paying the foreign employees their contractual fixed monthly salary or inflating the salaries with no intention of paying them the amount that has been declared. There were about 1,400 foreign employees affected in these cases.

Penalties for the underpayment of salaries take into account the severity of the offence. For not paying the salaries that are due to them, employers could be prosecuted and they could be fined up to $10,000, jailed up to a year, or both, under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act (EFMA). These penalties were last reviewed and raised in 2012, up from a fine of up to $5,000, or jail of six months or both. So, we doubled it.

Exploitation in any form is not fair to employees and is unacceptable. For underpayment of salaries, we will get the employers to make full restitution of salaries owed to the foreign employees. The vast majority have been able to recover their salaries in full. For wilful employers, MOM will take further enforcement actions and failure to comply will attract additional penalties, including payment of fines and serving an imprisonment sentence. Underpayment of salaries to any employee, foreign or local is not tolerated and we will not hesitate to take actions against any errant employers and parties who abet the offence.

To Mr Singh's suggestion to require errant employers to pay the foreign employee a penalty amounting to six months of his salary for each instance of salary underpayment, MOM already requires such employers to make full restitution of the salary owed to the employee and pay a fine or be jailed if prosecuted. We will facilitate the transfer of affected workers who want to continue to work in Singapore to a new employer. And in spite of many of these things that we have heard about, Singapore remains a very attractive destination for our migrant workers who want to come to work. So, what we are trying to do is to assure workers that they can continue to stay in Singapore – because this is what they need – to earn an income when they report their employers for salary underpayment. As such, at this particular point in time, we do not see the need to require the employer to pay the employee an amount beyond what was owed to him.

One way to reduce the incidence of salary underpayment or non-payment is e-payment. As of January 2021, more than 97% of employers pay their migrant workers living in the dormitories electronically. For the remaining, we are in consultation with tripartite partners to extend requirements for electronic payments to more workers, including locals and work permit holders who are not living in the dormitories.

Mr Louis Ng and Mr Leon Perera expressed concern, rightfully, about the recruitment process, including job advertisements, fees paid by migrant workers and if it was possible to establish direct recruitment channels.

Our laws limit the recruitment fees charged to migrant workers by Employment Agencies (EAs) in Singapore at one month of their salary for each year of their contract, capped at two months. So, it is one month for each year capped at two months. EAs must also refund 50% of the recruitment fee to the worker if the employment is terminated within six months and MOM takes strong enforcement actions against EAs that do not comply with these requirements.

MOM also actively takes enforcement action against persons performing EA activities without an EA licence, or engaging in hiring activities without an agent licence. Such persons face a jail term of up to two years or a fine of up to $80,000, or both. Harsher penalties will be meted out for subsequent convictions, including fines of up to $160,000 or a jail term of up to four years, or both. So, receiving or offering payment as consideration for the employment of migrant workers is also prohibited under the EAA and the EFMA Act. Offenders found guilty under the EFMA Act can face a jail term of up to two years or a fine of up to $30,000, or both.

In recent years, MOM has also adopted the use of data analytics to detect anomalies and fraud in the employment patterns of migrant workers more quickly and more accurately. This has helped us to proactively detect cases, in addition to complaints and tip-offs when we receive from NGOs, MWC ambassadors and migrant workers. We encourage all parties to provide us with the different data sources so that we can triangulate better and we encourage migrant workers who are made to pay monies to their employers or any other party as a guarantee of employment, and members of the public with information to come forward on all these illegal recruitment and workplace practices to inform us immediately. This is our appeal to you.

We have also ramped up education efforts. MOM has been educating foreign employees to report underpayment of salaries and employment kickbacks through various platforms and initiatives such as FWMOMCare app. During the mandatory Settling-In Programme, an orientation for first-time work permit holders, and roadshows, we will educate them. The regular presence of MOM’s FAST teams at the dormitories also allows for early detection. Hence, foreign workers are now aware that they have multiple avenues to seek help. We continue to encourage and we hope that you would help us to send the message out as well, to ask them to come forward early to report if they face any employment-related issues.

There was a decrease in illegal employment agent activities in 2019, with around 70 foreigners and 18 Singaporeans being taken to task, compared to an average of over 100 foreigners and 25 Singaporeans per year in the preceding three years.

We have not discounted this centralised job portal, as suggested by Members. While we see that as a possible opening and option, we recognise the fact that different employers tap on various channels to recruit employees, whether it is employment agencies, employee referrals or direct hiring from source countries. If we want to mandate a centralised recruitment platform for all employers, many of our businesses have given feedback that this will limit their hiring flexibility to meet their respective manpower needs. So, I think we have to be open to all different options.

In addition, such a platform can reduce but not necessarily completely eliminate fees paid by migrant workers to these "unlicensed" overseas agents or middlemen, to assist with the documentation that is required or to help them link them to this platform or "licensed", so to speak, employment agencies in the source countries. This is always a hard work-in-progress.

We will constantly and continually work with stakeholders including employers, migrant workers themselves, the NGOs, the employment agencies, to explore the various suggestions that have been brought up in the past, today and moving forward, to reduce the recruitment costs incurred by migrant workers seeking a job in Singapore. Like my appeal earlier on, the support of employers, the NGOs and acceptance by workers will be crucial.

Miss Rachel Ong asked about protecting the rights of workers to safe and hygienic meals. Today, there are various options, including self-cooked food. Migrant workers who face issues with access to adequate and proper food or other well-being concerns should report their cases to us at MOM. MOM will address the issues with employers. In serious cases, we will take appropriate enforcement action. We are happy to work with NGOs, dormitories operators and employers to explore different ways to ensure that our workers receive sufficient, sustainable and nutritious food.

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With the outbreak in dormitories now under control, many volunteers are concerned about the strict measures that remain in place for workers residing in dormitories, even as the country moves into Phase Three. We understand and we empathise with their needs and the need for social interaction. At the same time, we are also concerned about the livelihoods of workers should a second wave or clusters develop in the dormitories. We are, therefore, calibrating and easing restrictions in a very carefully, controlled, safe manner, particularly given the fact that there is a lot of news about more virulent strains emerging.

Communal facilities have resumed operations in dormitories where operators have demonstrated good compliance with safe management measures.

Starting from this month, instead of once a week – which means in early March, instead of once a week – migrant workers can visit the Recreation Centres up to three times a week, on their rest days or after working hours. Each visit will be extended from the current three to four hours. Workers will have more time to carry out their personal errands or to do some sports. To mitigate transmission risk from inter-mixing, these workers must have attended their rostered routine testing and they must continue to carry their contact tracing devices.

We are also currently drawing up plans to allow eligible workers to visit the community once a month. The operational details are being worked out to keep the numbers in the community manageable.

We have no intention whatsoever for restrictions to be stricter than necessary or to be in place for longer than what is necessary. Because, we are dealing with the real risks posed by COVID-19, especially when we are trying to prevent cross-transmission or possible re-infection.

Hence, we appeal to all of you for your support and understanding as we continue to calibrate measures to adapt to the ever-evolving situation. We are just doing our level best to make efforts to restore a sense of normalcy where it is possible. Mr Chairman, in Chinese.

(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] In the past year, Singapore has introduced a series of measures to cope with the pandemic. We have gained valuable lessons and experience to prepare us for the next outbreak. Going forward, we will help migrant workers and migrant worker dormitories to enhance their capabilities to respond to future outbreaks in three key areas:

First, we will fortify our first line of defence by putting in place preventive measures before and when migrant workers arrive in Singapore. We will pilot a Migrant Worker Onboarding Centre, or MWOC – an end-to-end onboarding process that will integrate the Stay-Home Notice (SHN) and on-arrival testing, for all Construction, Marine and Process (CMP) sector work permit and S Pass holders entering Singapore. The MWOC will be able to provide the flexibility to tweak measures taken pre-departure and upon arrival to minimise the transmission risks of new workers arriving in Singapore.

Second, we will strengthen the resilience of our dormitories. We intend to expand the Foreign Employees Dormitory Act (FEDA) to cover all dormitories, including those with fewer than 1,000 beds. This will enable us to continuously raise and enforce housing standards across various dormitory types and sizes.

Third, we will put in place strong support systems to make these efforts sustainable, including strengthening healthcare provision and social networks for workers residing in dormitories and other housing types.

Everyone has a part to play in fighting COVID-19. With the cooperation of dormitory operators, employers, workers and the community, together we can minimise the risks of COVID-19 outbreaks and welcome the new norm.

(In English): In conclusion, Mr Chairman, our efforts to build a safe and resilient migrant workforce must not stop here. In fact, we are just beginning. We will fortify our defences through upstream measures before and when workers arrive into Singapore. These series of safeguards will help us to better manage any risk of imported cases and to better onboard them.

We will raise living standards and enhance all of our processes in our dormitories to strengthen our collective ability to respond effectively and rapidly to future outbreaks.

We will put in place strong support systems to make these efforts sustainable over the longer term, including strengthening healthcare provision and social networks for workers residing in the different dormitories and the different housing types.

We recognise that these efforts come at a cost. But prevention is always better than cure. The Government believes that investing in these preventive measures today will save us from spending more in the future to manage future outbreaks.

On this note, I appeal and urge everyone and employers in particular, to seize this opportunity to accelerate your adoption of higher productivity and less labour-intensive industry models.

We call upon all of you, over the last one year, who have braved the storm together with us. You have expended significant resources, significant opportunity costs. We should all collectively take active steps. We should all collectively strengthen our workforce, our workplace resilience, and to put in place robust and sustainable measures that will see us through the long haul.

Future pandemics are not a question of "if". It is a question of "when". Together, if we put our hearts and our minds together, we will always be ready for future pandemics. [Applause.]

The Senior Minister of State for Manpower (Mr Zaqy Mohamad): Mr Chairman, earlier, Minister for Manpower outlined how MOM will strengthen our efforts to ensure workforce and workplace resilience. First, by uplifting our low-wage workers. Second, by ensuring good workplace safety practices. Third, by enhancing our employees’ mental well-being.

We have made good progress in supporting our low-wage workers. In the decade from 2009 to 2019, low-wage workers saw higher income growth than the average worker. This has helped to reduced income inequality, and bears testament to the Government's multi-layered approach to support our low-wage workers.

Workfare Income Supplement, which the Government introduced in 2007, laid the foundations to supplement the incomes of our low-wage workers. It casts a wide net, covering full-time and part-time employees, as well as the self-employed.

In 2020, about 440,000 people were eligible for Workfare, as long as they earned less than $2,300 a month and met all other eligibility criteria. It supplements workers' wages by up to 30%, depending on income and age. On top of Workfare, we have the Progressive Wage Model, or PWM, and Workfare Skills Support.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic has tempered progress, we are fortunate that there has been broad-based preservation of jobs and employability.

This has not been the experience elsewhere. At its peak, the unemployment rate for OECD countries was 3.6%-points higher than pre-COVID-19 levels, whereas in Singapore, the increase was smaller at 1.6%-points.

To cushion the impact on the incomes of low-wage workers, last year, the Government assisted them with the one-off Workfare Special Payment of $3,000, fully in cash, on top of regular Workfare payouts. In total, approximately 500,000 Singaporean workers benefited from about $1.5 billion of Workfare Special Payments. Such an effort has certainly supported our low-wage workers in these challenging times.

But we are not out of the woods yet. Keeping our low-wage workers employed must continue to be our highest priority. And we have done so through measures like the Jobs Support Scheme, which has helped to keep our unemployment rate low.

Keeping this priority in mind, we should take careful steps to raise the wages of our low-wage workers. Especially in a time like this, we must not trifle with careless moves that would risk them being unemployed instead. We will continue to build on Workfare and extend the PWM to cover more workers. This combination is a sustainable way to uplift our low-wage workers through better wages and work conditions.

Take our security officers, for example. Since January this year, security firms are no longer granted overtime exemption, or OTE. This means that a security officer can only work up to 72 overtime hours a month, instead of the previous industry norm of 95 hours. While security officers would be heartened by this move, many were also concerned about the impact on their wages because many relied on overtime pay for their gross incomes.

To mitigate the impact of reduced overtime hours on wages, the tripartite partners agreed to a $150 increase in the PWM basic wage floor, double that in preceding years. More security officers also saw even higher wages. What this means is that security officers can now work fewer overtime hours while maintaining their gross monthly wages. I am thankful to both the Labour Movement and security employers for continuing with these changes despite the current challenging business climate.

Mr Alvin Goh is one of many who have benefited. When he joined the industry in 2017, he worked six days each week, averaging 94 overtime hours a month. Mr Goh was earning about $1,800 in gross wages then, with some additional support from Workfare. Today, because of PWM, Mr Goh works up to 72 overtime hours a month – a significant reduction of 22 hours. This means two additional rest days a month, which he uses to spend more time to rest and spend more time with family. Thanks to PWM wage increases and his progression up the PWM ladder, his gross wages today has increased by more than 50% from the $1,800 he was earning in 2017, to about $2,800 today.

Besides improved working conditions, many of us have witnessed the transformation of job roles in the sector – from "jagas" who perform largely caretaking functions, to security officers who are skilled professionals, enabled by technology today. Careful implementation of the PWM has also helped to avoid negative employment effects. We have seen the growth of more locals joining the sector of around 6% a year, from 2015 to 2021. The Progressive Wages approach, with Workfare as a foundation, has benefited the security sector, employers and security officers, who have seen better career prospects, wages and work conditions.

With your permission, Chairman, I would like to refer all Members to the brochures and the sheets that have been given out, detailing our efforts to support low-wage workers.

The story of Mr Alvin Goh and others like him, bear testament to the value of building on Workfare to adopt progressive wages. The Tripartite Workgroup on Lower-Wage Workers have been working hard to ensure that our low-wage workers can emerge stronger together with the rest of Singapore. Presently, our existing PWMs cover around 85,000 workers.

Dr Koh Poh Koon and Ms Yeo Wan Ling asked if the wages and prospects of our low-wage workers in the Food Services and Retail sectors could be uplifted. NTUC Secretary-General Ng Chee Meng also expressed similar sentiments recently.

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We have been studying the extension of the PWM to more sectors. In my Committee of Supply speech last year, I reiterated our intention to do so when business conditions were more favourable – we were at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic last year.

As we strive to emerge together from the pandemic, I am pleased to announce that the Tripartite Workgroup has agreed to extend the PWM to the food services and retail sectors. These sectors are among the sectors with the largest numbers of low-wage workers. We estimate that these PWMs could cover up to 80,000 local workers.

The Workgroup also recognises NTUC's aspirations for the PWMs to be implemented within two to three years. And we have convened Tripartite Cluster committees for each of these sectors, which will recommend an implementation timeline, taking on board all stakeholders' concerns, including market conditions. The tripartite cluster committees will target to submit their recommendations on the timeline and other implementation details to the Government by the end of the year.

In good part because of the PWM, the median gross monthly wages of cleaners have seen cumulative real growth of 37% since 2013, to $1,388 in 2019. For security officers, we saw cumulative real growth of 29% since 2015 to $2,391 in 2019.

We are confident that our local workers in the food services and retail sectors will likewise see a meaningful uplift to their wages in time to come.

We also welcome NTUC's strong commitment to expanding the PWM. And we look forward to NTUC, bringing on board their social enterprises, such as NTUC Foodfare and Fairprice, when we expand the food Services and retail PWMs, along with other progressive employers.

Even as the tripartite partners work through the details, we recognise that our approach will need to be balanced.

During my consultations with the industry, many food services and retail employers supported the imperative to do more for low-wage workers in their sectors. I am heartened by their support.

At the same time, we are also mindful that while some firms are doing very well, others may still be more at a nascent stage of recovery. So, our intentions must therefore be carefully calibrated. It must be meaningful for the worker, but it must also be viable for our SMEs.

We will pay close attention to the potential impact of PWM on business costs. The Government will do its part to support the transition, alongside employers and consumers.

We will also consult extensively with the employers and unions and be sensitive to existing industry practices, such as incentive-based wage remuneration like commissions, for example, when designing the PWM in these sectors.

Today, all cleaners, security officers and landscape workers of licensed or registered cleaning, security and landscape firms benefit from being paid at least PWM wages. Other companies may also employ staff in-house to perform these roles, such as hotels and F&B outlets which are not covered under existing PWMs.

Sir, the Workgroup fully agrees with Dr Koh Poh Koon that it will make sense to extend the existing PWMs to benefit up to 50,000 of such workers. We intend to consult key affected sectors on a suitable timeline to move forward.

To the questions from Mr Louis Ng and Mr Fahmi Aliman, I wish to reinforce the Government's ambition to eventually cover all sectors with Progressive Wages, on top of Workfare as a fundamental layer of support for our low-wage workers.

We are starting in sectors with the highest proportion of low-wage workers in the workforce and identifying ways to expand beyond these sectors.

We also recognise that there are low-wage workers employed in similar occupations but distributed in other sectors. So, we are studying practical ways to cover various occupational groups under Progressive Wages and will share more when ready.

To the figures Mr Gerald Giam quoted yesterday, the discrepancy arises because of coverage.

Part-time employees work fewer hours so their gross wages would naturally be lower. Similarly, for self-employed persons, the nature of their earnings and their working hours are not comparable. But let us also look at the big picture.

The wages of our low-wage workers have not stagnated in the past decade. We have seen our efforts improve the wages of all Singaporeans and we have seen progress at the bottom 10% and the bottom 20%.

So, just to give you some idea. The bottom 20% of wages increased by 39% in real terms in the last decade, 2009 to 2019. At P10, we are just increased by 37% in real terms – same period. That is really the big picture. The wages of our low-wage workers have not stagnated. They have gone up and we will continue to help them progress. But regardless of how the numbers differ, an important point is that low-wage workers also receive the Workfare support. And in time to come, our aim is to cover them through Progressive Wages too.

Nevertheless, more broadly, I thank Mr Gerald Giam for his consistent support of the PWM since 2014, I believe when he was a Non-Constituency Member of Parliament when he commented on its launch. We share similar objectives, even if our methods or approaches may differ.

Mr Giam may have the impression that there is little risk of disemployment when higher PWM wages are mandated. It is precisely because of the calibrated way in which we have rolled out PWM, negotiated with the industry and the Labour Movement, have we been able to avoid disemployment and improve wage outcomes in which the market can bear.

Where feasible, the tripartite partners make positive improvements to the work conditions, as I shared earlier with the security sector, which in turn, promotes more local hiring. So, it is a win for the employer, a win for the worker and also a win for the service buyer and hopefully consumers in the future.

The Government stands ready to support, to ease the transition for firms, including training support. And that is why sectoral tripartite consultations are critical.

As for Mr Edward Chia, I agree when he cautioned, businesses, especially our SMEs, must be given a reasonable runway to adjust and prepare for the PWM. I thank him for his support. I also want to assure him that this is exactly how we prevent problems.

I hope that Mr Giam will appreciate the delicate balance involved and the Workgroup members who are trying hard to act responsibly.

The Workgroup will also study how to ensure that wage growth in PWM sectors continues to outpace median wage growth. Our aim is really to narrow the wage gap amongst our workers and strengthen the cohesion in our society.

Mr Chairman, the PWMs currently benefit 85,000 workers. In the short term, we will be at least doubling the coverage up to 218,000 workers. More importantly, it remains our aspiration to cover all sectors with Progressive Wages in the longer term, on top of Workfare as the fundamental layer of support for all our low-wage workers. The Workgroup expects to conclude its deliberations and issue its recommendations to Government to do so before the end of the year.

Uplifting our low-wage workers is a whole-of-society effort. Employers and workers must continue to be committed to job redesign and upskilling. As consumers, let us also recognise our responsibility.

I am heartened that a Government poll conducted early this year found that, even amidst the pandemic, a considerable proportion of respondents – 39% – were willing to pay more for goods and services to help low-wage workers receive higher wages. Forty-two percent were neutral, while 19% were not prepared to do so. Though there are many Singaporeans who are willing to pay more, but we can see that the support is not so clear-cut.

As a nation, it is important that we stand in solidarity with our low-wage workers. I urge all Members in this House, across parties, to help build consensus among Singaporeans that this is but a small price to bear together for a fairer and more cohesive society.

At the same time, the extension of PWM to these sectors is not an excuse for companies to indiscriminately raise prices, which Dr Koh and Mr Singh are rightly concerned about. I fully agree.

With the expansion of PWM to the public-facing retail and food services sectors, we will study options with relevant agencies to keep a close watch on indiscriminate profiteering.

To Mr Singh's specific query on lift maintenance contracts, today, there is no requirement for Town Councils to procure services from any particular firm, though I recognise that some firms specialise in particular lift models. Authorised dealers are required to supply parts to other players on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms. Town Councils can also compare prices between firms to make informed decisions on awarding of contracts. Agencies will look into any unjustified contract hikes and Mr Singh can offer us details to follow-up if there are.

More broadly, Mr Singh's example brings to bear two points.

First, since introducing PWM for the sector through Government procurement in 2019, we have seen median gross monthly wages for full-time resident lift technicians rise from around $3,300 in 2017, to about $3,800 in 2019. But at the same time, our efforts may have some impact to consumer prices. This highlights why careful deliberation by tripartite partners is necessary as we expand to more PWMs. No company should unjustly profit from the PWM, but we must also recognise that these moves will not be without cost. That is why Workfare continues to be important, as consumers and service buyers do not bear the cost impact of the wage supplements.

All of us have a role to play as our low-wage workers enjoy better wages, dignity and respect. I agree with Mr Raj Joshua Thomas that seeking the well-being of our fellow workers must be part of our culture. The Government will partner the community in this effort.

With this in mind, the Workgroup has called for the formation of the Alliance for Action (Afa) for Lower-Wage Workers. This Alliance for Action or AfA will mobilise passionate, action-oriented people to contribute to the whole-of-society effort to uplift low-wage workers.

The Government supports the Workgroup's call and we will launch the AfA soon and run co-creation workshops for AfA members over the next six months to start these ground-up initiatives.

Mr Chairman, moving on to workplace safety, MOM is alarmed at the recent spate of workplace accidents. The Ministry is investigating every incident and we call upon the whole industry to seriously review their safety protocols.

We acknowledge that companies are facing manpower shortages due to border and pandemic controls. Nevertheless, companies must not compromise worker safety by rushing or having workers operate machinery or perform tasks that they are not trained for. They should also review their risk assessments to account for COVID-19 conditions.

Since mid-December 2020, MOM has stepped up enforcement. Out of 510 inspections since mid-December, MOM has uncovered 486 contraventions and issued seven Stop-Work Orders (SWOs). No company should be complacent.

Since last November, Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Council and industry associations have called for two Safety Time Outs (STOs) to improve safety protocols.

We are particularly concerned with the Tuas explosion on 24 February, resulting in multiple casualties. It was one of the worst accidents in recent years. Our inspectors have commenced inspections on close to 500 companies that may have combustible dust hazards. And this is to ensure that risks are minimised. The Minister for Manpower will appoint an Inquiry Committee to thoroughly study the case and recommend prevention measures, including policy or regulatory changes if necessary.

Mr Melvin Yong asked about workplace safety amongst sub-contractors. Sub-contractors are not the only ones responsible for workplace safety and health. Main contractors must also be responsible for ensuring overall safety across their worksites, including managing the safety performance of sub-contractors on their sites.

To motivate both main and sub-contractors to improve their workplace safety practices, MOM launched the CheckSafe e-service in January this year to make construction companies' safety track records readily available. This way, developers and main contractors can make more informed decisions in appointing safer sub-contractors. We intend to expand this to other sectors for service buyers to influence WSH outcomes through their choice of contractors.

For construction fatalities involving sub-contractors' workers, we will also prosecute the main contractor if they fail in their duty to ensure safety of workers on the site. Later this year, MOM will release a framework emphasising safety performance for public sector construction tenders. In this way, safer companies will have better access to business opportunities. I hope the private sector will follow suite in due course.

This approach is an important complement to deterrent penalties in WSH prosecutions. The maximum penalty for WSH Act offences have increased from $250,000 in 2016 to $400,000 in 2019.

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Based on MOM's inspections, almost all companies have appointed a Safe Management Officer (SMO). We support Mr Melvin Yong's suggestion that companies could consider upskilling their SMOs to become WSH representatives through courses such as the Workforce Skills Qualifications (WSQ) Certificate in Workplace Safety and Health or through participating in the bizSAFE programme, for which training subsidies are available.

Mr Chairman, Singapore has come a long way in our workplace safety and health standards. Since the Nicoll Highway collapse in 2004, our workplace fatal injury rate reduced from 4.9 per 100,000 workers to 1.1 per 100,000 workers in 2019. This is a level achieved only by a handful of developed countries. But still, we must never be complacent and we remain committed in our goal in making Singapore one of the safest workplaces in the world.

Mr Chairman, the COVID-19 pandemic has reminded us of the importance of ensuring workforce and workplace resilience. For its part, the Government is committed to continue leading efforts to uplift our lower-wage workers, to ensure good workplace safety practices and to enhance employees' mental wellbeing, not just for the benefit of every worker but also for the good of employers and society-at-large.

The Minister of State for Manpower (Ms Gan Siow Huang): The past year has not been easy for employers, employees and jobseekers. One group that is new to our workforce and learning to navigate their entrance into it are our recent graduates.

Miss Cheryl Chan and Mr Yip Hon Weng asked about the progress of our SGUnited Traineeships and its impact on our graduates. Not surprisingly, fewer graduates found permanent full-time employment last year. SGUnited Traineeships provided a viable alternative. I agree with Prof Hoon Hian Teck that our graduates on traineeship can gain industry-relevant experience and build their networks as pathways to future job opportunities. About nine in 10 graduates from our Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) who entered the labour force last year found jobs or traineeships within six months of graduation. Among them, 5,400 were on traineeships. Most of these traineeships were in growth sectors such as financial services, information and communications, and professional services.

The SGUnited Traineeships Programme will be extended by an additional year till 31 March 2022. This allows the programme to support the class of 2021 as well.

We are making some adjustments to the SGUnited Traineeships. We will raise training allowances for ITE and Polytechnic graduates. This is to give an extra boost to our ITE and Polytechnic graduates, who are facing more difficulty in finding jobs. We hope that our recent graduates who have not been able to find jobs can seriously consider traineeships. To facilitate this, the training allowance for ITE graduates will increase by about 30%, up to a maximum of $1,800 and about 20% for Polytechnic graduates, up to a maximum of $2,100. The traineeships are available to graduates from the private education institutes as well.

Ms Jessica Tan, Mr Liang Eng Hwa and Ms Nadia Samdin will be pleased to know that we have made changes to facilitate trainees' transition into jobs. The maximum traineeship duration has been shortened from nine to six months. Companies will not be allowed to take on the same trainee for a second traineeship. We want to encourage host organisations to hire trainees who have performed well during the traineeship stint. These changes will take effect on 1 April 2021.

2021 is a year of celebrating Singaporean women. I wholeheartedly support this initiative and I would like to take this opportunity to update on the employment of women in Singapore.

Our female employment rate has remained stable at 73% despite the impact of COVID-19. This speaks to the strength and resilience of our women amidst challenging labour market conditions and reflects our efforts in supporting female employment.

Mr Louis Ng asked if the practice of declaring the last drawn salary contributed to the gender pay gap. He referred to a Boston University study on the impact of salary history on gender pay gap. The United States introduced a salary history ban in 2016.

In Singapore, the adjusted gender pay gap is about 6%, which is lower than that in the United States. According to a 2018 study by Assoc Prof Jessica Pan from NUS, occupational segregation was a key contributor to the gender wage gap here.

In Singapore, jobseekers do not have to comply with requests for their last drawn salary and employers cannot insist on it either. If a jobseeker chooses to provide salary information, employers should use it carefully.

I share Ms Mariam Jaafar's and Ms Yeo Wan Ling's conviction that we should support women to stay active in the labour force. The labour force participation rate for women has been rising steadily from 68.4% in 2010 to 76.6% in 2020. Even COVID-19 could not stop us. It is perhaps a sign that more men are sharing in care-giving responsibilities at home and our workplaces have become more supportive of women.

We are mindful, however, that in our Asian culture, women carry a disproportionate weight in care-giving duties. In 2020, 65% of women who were outside the labour force cited family responsibilities as the main reason as compared to only 8% of men. Our answer to this is not in asking men to stay at home and be full-time care-givers but to increase support for care-givers as a whole so that they can contribute to work and have an income.

I share Ms Carrie Tan's views on the importance of supporting care-givers in the workforce. We acknowledge that care-giver leave helps them take care of their loved ones through short-term illnesses. However, it is also important to hear from care-givers what is most helpful to them. Our conversations with working care-givers showed that flexible work arrangements were more important and sustainable.

We also support care-givers who would like to return to the workforce by providing career matching services from Workforce Singapore (WSG). Through providing a supportive environment for our working care-givers, we can empower them to fulfill career aspirations concurrently with family commitments. Lower wage care-givers who are working may also be eligible for the Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) Scheme, which provides up to $4,000 in cash and CPF top-ups annually.

We have also taken steps to help care-givers build their retirement nest egg. First, we encourage cash top-ups to CPF accounts of care-givers through tax incentives and Government matching grants. Second, we supplement the retirement income of seniors who had low incomes during their working years through the Silver Support Scheme.

Ms Carrie Tan also suggested for us to combine childcare and parent care leave to form a more holistic family care leave provision. While we agree that this might provide more flexibility to care-givers who have to take care of both children and their parents, we will have to consider the long-term implications of such a measure.

COVID-19 has accelerated the adoption of flexible work arrangements. Most companies implemented flexible work arrangements last year in view of safe management requirement for the workplace. Many successfully redesigned work processes and infrastructure to facilitate staggered work hours and work-from-home arrangements. In 2020, the proportion of employers that provided some form of flexible work arrangements rose to 93% and almost half of employers provided formal tele-working arrangements.

Mr Louis Chua and Mr Louis Ng would like to see flexible work arrangements continuing post-COVID-19. The importance of flexible work arrangements was echoed in the recent Emerging Stronger Conversation series too. Particularly, on working from home, a survey conducted in July last year showed that four in five workers wished to continue to work from home for at least half the time, even after Government measures are lifted.

Employers are aligned with this too. In a recent MOM online poll, more than three in five businesses indicated that they intend to continue to allow employees to work from home at least half the time post-COVID-19.

Although COVID-19 has significantly increased the proportion of people working from home, further study is needed to understand the impact of such arrangements on the work productivity and wellbeing of employees in the long term. Some employers may feel that work-from-home, if protracted, could hinder collaboration, productivity and the building of team spirit. Some employees may prefer to work in the office if their home environment is not conducive or for social interaction. The degree to which work-from-home can be proliferated will vary across occupations.

We will look at the experiences of other jurisdictions such as the UK and Australia, which have introduced flexible work arrangement legislation. But we will need to work with our tripartite partners to ensure a holistic representation of employees and employers' interests as we decide on the steps for the longer term.

We have recently formed an Alliance for Action for Work-Life Harmony to help companies instill workplace practices and resources to promote work-life harmony. In the long term, this will help companies better attract and retain talent.

At its heart, a progressive workplace is one where everyone is treated fairly and empowered to perform at their best. There have been various calls by Members, including Mr Patrick Tay and Mr Louis Ng, to introduce additional legislation to tackle workplace discrimination and harassment.

We have laws to raise employment standards and we update them regularly. For harassment, we have the Protection from Harassment Act and the Penal Code. These laws enable the Government to take action against harassers, including at the workplace.

We can have more legislation to enforce against bad behaviour at the workplace but if we take a legal approach to every aspect of employment relations, we will have an adversarial industrial climate.

Not legislating does not mean we do not have higher aspirations for our workforce and workplaces. We have Tripartite Guidelines, Advisories and Standards, and these have worked well in advancing both employers and employees' interests while maintaining a positive and constructive relationship between both groups. Members may recall that before the Retirement and Re-employment Act was introduced, we also adopted a promotional approach. We will continue to review this bag of tools and introduce and upgrade the tools as necessary.

Over the past three years, the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP) handled an average of 400 discrimination cases annually, including those arising from proactive checks by MOM. In about 50 cases each year, the employers were found to be in breach of the guidelines and had their work pass privileges suspended.

Through the Fair Consideration Framework (FCF), we encourage fair employment practices that are open and merit-based. We hold employers to account for not considering the workforce in Singapore fairly. We proactively identify companies with suspicious workforce profiles, that is, companies that have an exceptionally high share of foreign professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) compared to their industry peers or a high concentration of a single foreign nationality source. We place them on our FCF Watchlist for closer scrutiny of their hiring practices even if they have not flouted any rules.

More importantly, schemes like the Jobs Support Scheme, Jobs Growth Incentive and Professional Conversion Programme tilt the balance in favour of hiring locals.

This is similar to how we take a progressive approach to reducing other forms of workplace discrimination.

Specifically for seniors, job redesign and reskilling have also enabled us to increase their employment in Singapore. Despite the absence of an age discrimination law, Singapore's senior employment rate increased from 59% to 67.5% in the past decade. In contrast, countries like the UK and US have age discrimination laws but lower senior employment rates than in Singapore.

In short, we will use a range of tools as well as legal and regulatory measures to keep our workplaces progressive, fair and inclusive.

Mr Chairman, Singaporeans take pride in being a caring and kind society. We teach our children to take care of the vulnerable and disadvantaged. Many Singaporeans were outraged when we heard about what happened to Ms Piang Ngaih Don, a foreign domestic worker from Myanmar who was brutally abused by her employer and died tragically in 2016. This was an act of extreme evil.

Let me state unequivocally to this House that our society has no place for cruelty to anyone. We must do our best to support vulnerable groups such as the elderly, children and foreign domestic workers.

Foreign domestic workers play a key role in supporting our families, whether in household chores or care-giving. Most employers appreciate the help from their foreign domestic workers and build good relationships with them. However, some employers treat their foreign domestic workers unreasonably. In the worst cases, they inflict harm.

Employers in Singapore must know that any abuse of foreign domestic workers will not be tolerated. The Penal Code was enhanced in 2020 to double the maximum punishment against individuals who abuse vulnerable people, including foreign domestic workers.

MOM has been reviewing measures to better support foreign domestic workers and strengthen safeguards against abuse in three areas.

First, making greater use of existing touch points with foreign domestic workers. Employment agents should have an interest to ensure that the foreign domestic workers they place settle in well, especially those working in Singapore for the first time. One-on-one interviews after newly arrived foreign domestic workers start work with employers and mandatory off days would also give abused foreign domestic workers more opportunities to seek help.

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Second, in terms of the reporting by doctors, we will work with the medical fraternity to better identify signs of abuse or distress.

Third, our partner organisations like CDE and FAST can also expand their outreach and engagement, to strengthen the network of support to foreign domestic workers.

These measures do not in any way, remove or reduce the responsibility of each employer to take care of his or her foreign domestic worker.

Neither can they eliminate completely the risk of foreign domestic worker abuse. But we must do all we can to minimise its incidence, and build a culture of respect for foreign domestic workers, in our homes and in our community. MOM will provide an update in due course. Mr Chairman, please allow me to conclude in Mandarin.

(In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] Although we face many challenges, we will continue to work hard to build a fairer and more inclusive workplace for our workers. Regardless of gender, age, race or physical ability, we want to make sure that all Singaporeans are able to thrive at the workplace.

The Government, employers, workers and the community, can all do our part to protect the vulnerable in our society. Let us work together and march towards a fairer and more cohesive society.

The Chairman: Ms Carrie Tan.

Ms Carrie Tan (Nee Soon): Thank you, Chairman. I would like to thank Minister of State Gan for replying. I appreciate MOM in highlighting that low-wage care-givers also get income top-ups through Workfare. I think that is very helpful. In my cut, however, I was calling specifically for attention to look into basic income for full-time stay home care-givers who were previously from hired and low-wage industries. By this I mean a community that has moved from low-wage, literally, to no wage.

I am not sure whether this group of community is receiving enough attention because they may not fall conveniently within MOM's portfolio given that they are not in the workforce. And, if so, can Minister of State or someone please share like which Ministry should we be directing the attention for this community of care-givers, to look out for their well-being and their interest because they do not fall conveniently within a particular portfolio. I appreciate a clarification.

Ms Gan Siow Huang: The Government has strengthened areas of support for care-givers via the Care-givers Support Action Plan that was announced in 2019.

Firstly, there is a range of home and community care options to help support the care and social needs of the elderly loved ones when care-givers have to go to work. There are also various respite care options in eldercare centres and nursing homes for care-givers who need help with caring for seniors for short periods of time, including during the weekends.

Another example is the area of financial support. MOH has introduced a home-caring grant in October 2019 to help defray the costs of care-giving in the community. This grant provides a $200 payout per month to eligible individuals with permanent moderate disability that can be used to offset the cost of home and community care services – transport expenses to travel for medical appointments and cost of hiring a foreign domestic worker.

Households that need financial assistance for their basic living expenses including the low-wage stay home care-givers can also approach Social Services Office which will look into ways to support them.

To answer Ms Carrie Tan's question, actually it is a whole-of-Government. There are several Ministries working together to support care-givers, whether they are full-time care-givers or part-time care-givers. We have the MSF that looks at ComCare. We have MOH that looks at supplementing and providing alternative care-giver options. And we have MOM as well that looks at CPF support and retirement savings support for care-givers.

So, I would not say that it is a single Ministry but rather, a whole-of-Government effort to support care-givers.

The Chairman: Mr Desmond Choo.

Mr Desmond Choo (Tampines): Thank you, Mr Chairman. I have two matters for clarification. First of all, I want to thank Minister for acknowledging the work of the Labour Movement and affirmation of the importance of tripartism. The Minister mentioned about the Jobs Transformation Map. It is an important evolution in our transformation journey. Can the Minister update which are these 12 industries or sectors that will be in the first phase of this transformation? How many jobs are expected to be impacted and how can tripartite partners be part of this transformation?

Secondly, including private sectors' search firms to assist in job search for PMEs and help SMEs find workers can be a good and an important game-changer for Singapore. How does the Minister see the role of such search firms vis-a-vis the current placement agencies such as WSG and e2i in the longer term development of job placement in Singapore?

Mrs Josephine Teo: Mr Chairman, I thank Mr Desmond Choo, the GPC Chair for his clarifications.

Let me address the second question first. I think search firms and WSG as well as e2i, they play complementary roles. The search firms or, more broadly speaking, employment agencies have well established networks. They have within their networks companies whose recruitment requirements are well known to them because on an on-going basis, these employers reach out to the employment agents to help fill positions for a simple reason – they may not have a very large HR department with recruitment specialists. So, the employment agencies have their own networks of hiring employers.

The other benefits that I think the search firms and employment agencies bring is that quite often they guide the jobseekers on what aspects of their resume and skillsets ought to be emphasised when presenting themselves to the prospective employers. This is very often the key deciding factor. Because of their in-depth knowledge of prospective employers' requirements, which sometimes go beyond what can be stated in a job advertisement, this insight enables the jobseekers to review their own set of experiences and profile themselves appropriately.

I think in a well-developed landscape for job placement, the employment agencies can play a complementary role to WSG and with e2i. I think there is another value that they bring to the table and it is that quite often they will give very honest and direct feedback to the jobseekers and help them to appreciate where their chances might be better. This message is better delivered through the employment agents, on some occasions. There is a role for all the different parties.

On the question that Mr Choo asked on the Jobs Transformation Maps, it really depends on the sector – how many job roles will be identified systematically through the studies. In the case of financial services, for example, we identified 121 roles.

By the way, I should just add that not all of the sector agencies call them Jobs Transformation Maps. We refer to them broadly as Jobs Transformation Maps because that is exactly what they help the companies and the individuals accomplish – jobs transformation.

Whatever the sector agencies choose to call these studies, the key really is that when we speak very broadly about the impact of technology, we do not recognise sufficiently that the impact on specific industries and job roles depends very much on which technology we are talking about.

In the case of financial services, three key technologies will have an impact – artificial intelligence (AI), robotic process, automation (RPA) and advanced analytics. The study looks specifically at the impact of 121 job roles, arising out of these three technologies. In the case of logistics, it is 56 existing job roles and the specific technology we are looking at is Internet of Things, on the AR/VR or augmented reality, virtual reality, and blockchain. Because these are the kinds of technologies that would transform this sector, and not quite RPA/AI and advanced analytics. So, it is different. In the process of doing this study, over and above the 56 roles that were identified, another 12 new roles that the industry will need were also identified.

The value of these kinds of studies is to look very specifically within a foreseeable time frame, technologies that will make a key difference to help the companies transform the jobs and to re-skill their workers.

To Mr Choo's specific question, which are the other 12 sectors apart from human resources, financial services and logistics that were completed, they are the wholesale trade, retail, food manufacturing, infocomm and media, supply chain management, accountancy, in-house finance and accounting functions, construction, facilities management, land transport, environmental services and tourism.

The Chairman: Mr Pritam Singh.

Mr Pritam Singh (Aljunied): Thank you, Chairman. Firstly, thank you to all the MOM office holders for replying to the cuts filed by my WP colleagues and myself. And I also like to thank Minister for Manpower Mrs Josephine Teo for responding to my Budget debate speech on the Capability Transfer Programme. I think she gives some information with regard to how much has been expended on it so far. I believe the figure was $5 million.

Just going back very quickly to when the programme was announced in 2017, the former Minister for Manpower Mr Lim Swee Say, stated, and I quote, this was in the Budget debate of 2018, he said, "The scope of capability transfer is tremendous – high tech to high-touch; MNCs to SMEs; domestic to export-oriented industries". And we were given some information about the funding cap per project. It was $300,000. And in exceptional cases, even more could be given if the particular project was worthy.

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To that end, I would like to ask whether it would be correct to characterise the Capability Transfer Programme thus far as a scheme for which there is more to be desired, in view of the amount of money that the Government has spent on it so far. Because I would agree actually that there is a lot of scope for it to support and improve the prospects of the Singaporean Core.

The second question that I have is, again, with regard to the Capability Transfer Programme, whether there are plans to improve its usage across industries tracked by the ITMs because I would agree that there is a lot of scope for it to be a gamechanger. I think we had an example of it in the MTI COS where the Minister for Trade and Industry spoke about moving into a high-value bracket in manufacturing, for example; not just doing what other people are doing but doing things which very few people can do. And here, I believe the Capability Transfer Programme has a lot of scope.

Mrs Josephine Teo: Mr Chairman, I thank Mr Pritam Singh for his interest in the Capability Transfer Programme. Former Minister Lim Swee Say, at the launch, also made clear that the CTP is one of many programmes that the Government has to support capability development. Specifically, he also highlighted that it will complement the other programmes that sector agencies already have in place.

Of course, as the situation evolves, the sector agencies may identify more specific programmes that help their sectors to achieve better transformation and they make a case to MOF. If MOF considers that those needs are better met by such sector-specific programmes, then funding would be provided and the sector agencies will run it. The CTP itself is not tied to any particular sector. So, in that sense, it is focused in its mission. However, it can apply across sectors that are not covered very specifically by our agencies. So, I think it is a useful complement.

As to whether we would like more take-up of the programme, that is the reason why we extended it. But I should also caution that, from time to time, the Government re-examines all of its schemes of support to businesses and streamlining happens on a regular basis. So, this is part and parcel of Government administration.

Mr Yip Hon Weng (Yio Chu Kang): Mr Chairman, I thank the Ministry for the replies. I have two separate matters for clarification. First is on the SGUnited Traineeships. How many of those on the SGUnited Traineeships were offered full-time employment in the industry that they were doing their traineeships in? Second, on senior employment, a lot of effort for senior employment is at the job-matching level at the local level. Can the Ministry share more plans on this effort?

Mrs Josephine Teo: Mr Chairman, to Mr Yip's first question on the SGUnited Traineeships Programme, even at the start, we did not expect that the trainees must gain employment with the same company or within the same industry. The trainees, being fresh graduates, are at the start of their working lives. I think all of us have had that experience and benefit from being exposed to a variety of employment settings and different kinds of industries, different types of companies – big companies, SMEs. And this experience is really meant to try and help the trainees build up their resumes so that when they advance to the next stage of seeking a permanent job role, they are able to tell the prospective employer that, "Look, this is what I learnt". It matters less whether they go back to the same industry or same company, than the fact that they will be able to advance to a new job role. In any case, most of the trainees have not completed their traineeships. I think what we will want to watch very carefully is whether they are able to move to a job thereafter and that is what we will focus on.

The second question with regard to senior employment is that seniors are just like all other jobseekers. They have aspirations, specific job requirements, and a variety of ways exist in which to help them to get into a job. They can come to WSG, they can come to e2i, depending on what kinds of careers they have been active in. Even employment agencies might be a suitable avenue of support for them.

As to local types of jobs, to my knowledge, whether it is the CDCs or even some constituencies, there are attempts to try and make available such jobs. Again, I think they are complementary and certainly welcomed in terms of providing more openings that seniors can consider.

The Chairman: Assoc Prof Jamus Lim.

Assoc Prof Jamus Jerome Lim (Sengkang): Thank you, Chairman. I have a quick clarification question for Minister Teo when she said that the Ministry would not close the door to suggestions like redundancy insurance, among other things. Does that mean that there are, in fact, impending plans to set up a sort of a tripartite workgroup on, say, end-to-end job safety net or to further study the kind of feasibility of unemployment insurance schemes as well as other end-to-end job safety net schemes? I mention this because when I stated that we have the functional equivalent of this end-to-end job safety net, it was including a number of elements, such as the COVID-19 Support Grant or the Recovery Grant or SIRS, which, at the moment, are actually temporary. So, it would be nice to understand the extent to which some of these schemes may have a longer shelf life.

Mrs Josephine Teo: Mr Chairman, when the Government says that it keeps an open mind on issues, that is exactly what it is – it keeps an open mind. It continues to look at the experiences of other countries. It considers studies that are done elsewhere and also assesses, on a continuous basis, the changing landscape in Singapore and whether further action needs to be taken. At this point in time, we have a tripartite work group that is very intensively engaged in moving on lower wage workers. If and when there is a need to set up another tripartite workgroup, the Member can be sure that it will not be done in secret; it will certainly be announced publicly.

The Chairman: Ms Yeo Wan Ling.

Ms Yeo Wan Ling (Pasir Ris-Punggol): Thank you, Chairman. I thank Minister of State Gan for acknowledging the work of FDWs for being the larger eco-system of support for our Singaporean women workers. The mental wellness of our FDWs is something that needs to be considered with care. Given that their workplace is also their home, many FDWs find it hard to disengage from their work, especially if they are care-givers to the elderly and young in the households. And NTUC's FDW clinics for employers and employees that I helm for the labour movement, an often brought up point is the loneliness that our FDWs face, particularly if they are first-time FDWs and they come from different cultures and speak only their native languages. In such cases, would the Ministry share with the House if there are plans to assist our FDWs in work-life harmony and if there are comprehensive outreach programmes being done by the Ministry to ensure the wellness and settling-in of our new FDWs.

Ms Gan Siow Huang: I thank Ms Yeo Wan Ling for reminding us that FDWs, like us, also need work-life harmony, and mental well-being is as important to them as it is to us. So, actually, MOM has a number of measures already to help our foreign domestic workers adjust in Singapore. These include educating them via the settling-in programme on matters, such as Singapore's social norms, their employment rights and stress management.

In addition, MOM works with stakeholders, including NGOs, to provide recreational facilities and stress management courses. NGOs, like CDE under NTUC, and FAST, each maintains a 24-hour helpline for foreign domestic workers. CDE also partners mental health advocacy organisations, such as Silver Ribbon, to provide counselling services for foreign domestic workers who need someone to talk to. We recognise the importance of foreign domestic workers having opportunities to establish friendships, pursue recreational activities and deepen ties with the community. So, we work closely with partners, such as CDE and FAST, which I mentioned earlier on, to provide training, recreational spaces, social activities. In 2019, about 158,000 foreign domestic workers participated in courses, services and activities organised by various NGOs.

The wide range of services and activities available include befriender programmes, affordable educational courses, counselling facilities, libraries and gyms. And there are many opportunities for foreign domestic workers to enhance their work-related skills or pick up new skills for their personal development.

FAST is building a new clubhouse that will be 10 times larger than their current premises, with a capacity of 5,000 people and I am looking forward to opening it in the second half of the year.

We encourage our foreign domestic workers to utilise public parks and spaces as well and adhere to the safe distancing measures imposed at these public places, instead of gathering on public walkways where there may be safety and accessibility concerns.

The Chairman: Mr Louis Chua.

Mr Chua Kheng Wee Louis (Sengkang): Thank you, Chairman, and thank you to the Ministry for their kind sharing. I have got two clarifications. I think the first is regarding the LRIS which Minister Teo shared. I recognise that this is something that has been in place, but it has been about close to five years since August 2016 when the plans were first announced. So, I was just wondering if there is any specific timeline that the Ministry could share in terms of when we can expect some of these details to be announced.

And in relation to the cut I have filed, has the Ministry considered or is it considering allowing CPF members to invest alongside the Government's investment vehicles since we do not really need to look very far in terms of the options for funds that Members can consider. The second is in relation to parental care leave. Is this something that the Ministry is actively looking at considering to implement in the near term to send a signal that this is no less of a need, as compared to some other leave provisions, such as childcare leave or even annual leave.

Mrs Josephine Teo: Mr Chairman, Mr Chua had, during his cut, talked about CPF members co-investing with, I think, our sovereign wealth funds. I am not really sure whether he has fully thought it through because, in all investments, there are risks involved. And our sovereign wealth funds have to take a certain amount of risk in order to generate the returns and, on a year-to-year basis, sometimes even over longer periods of time, there is no sure win, no perfect guarantee. So, when we think of their good record of performance, we must also not forget that there are occasions where these investments do not produce the same returns, as hoped. So, that is something we always have to keep in mind.

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As to LRIS, what we were really trying to do is to create a product that will not be costly for CPF members to invest through, to basically make it something that is passively run and also takes advantage of the long time horizon that you have for your CPF savings.

As I have explained in my speech, this is obviously not going to be an easy product to design. I can only say that, there is a Chinese expression, "慢工出细货", that is, if you want a very fine product, it does take a bit of time. So, I beg the Member's indulgence that it is more important that we do a proper job than to rush it.

The Chairman: Mr Melvin Yong.

Mr Melvin Yong Yik Chye (Radin Mas): Chairman, I have two clarifications for Senior Minister of State Zaqy Mohamad.

First, on workplace safety. I am glad that the Senior Minister of State agrees with my suggestion to upskill SMOs to become WSH representatives in their companies. The NTUC will work closely with MOM to push and facilitate this.

Some safety officers have raised concerns that their hands are sometimes tied when it comes to improving internal workplace safety practices in their companies. They constantly worry that doing so will cause them to be blackmarked by their employers as workplace safety is always seen as a cost centre. They worry that speaking up may put their employment contract renewal at risk sometimes. I would like to ask if the Ministry can better safeguard the interests of our safety professionals so that they can perform their roles and improve workplace safety for all workers confidently and with greater assurance.

Second, I would like to ask the Senior Minister of State to respond to my question on whether we can better track the effectiveness of our workplace mental health initiatives and the adoption of our tripartite advisory on mental well-being at workplaces through perhaps the annual surveys that MOM conducts.

Mr Zaqy Mohamad: Chairman, I thank the Member for his questions and I will start with the mental health question first.

Mr Melvin Yong asked about the adoption of recommendations from our tripartite advisory on mental well-being at workplaces, including Employment Assistance Programmes (EAPs), which I know the NTUC has worked really hard on.

Since its launch in November, our partners and our mental health providers have reported increasing interest from employers in offering mental well-being initiatives at the workplace. I think this is a very positive sign, given the current COVID-19 arrangements that we have. As the economy recovers, we expect more companies to reprioritise their resources to more mental well-being initiatives. Besides NTUC, MOM is also working with employers and HR groups to promote the adoption of the tripartite advisory. And as suggested by Mr Yong, we will track the adoption of the MOM surveys every two years, with the first occurring later this year.

Moving on to Mr Yong's second question on the audit that the safety officers do, rest assured. We understand their roles as auditors. It is same as financial auditing, too, where they have a safety responsibility, like the fiduciary responsibility that auditors have, to report any risk to the safety of our workers. There are two things that workers can do. One, they can use the SnapSAFE app which is available. Two, they can call the MOM safety hotline which is at 6317-1111. Do call if you have any information which we can look into.

But I can assure Members that following many of the incidents, we are definitely concerned of late, especially with contractors rushing to catch up after work stoppages last year. I think that is one risk that we saw. The second one is certainly manpower disruptions, as I have mentioned earlier, due to border controls and pandemic measures. So, we need companies to put in place adequate risk assessment measures to adhere to safe work processes and ensure that, when there are machines, they are only operated by staff that are trained.

On MOM's part, we are putting in place more technology for the industry to adopt, such as drones, to replace workers from difficult high-rise inspections so that it makes their work safer. Two, fleet safety technology, for example, can improve situational awareness of drivers and wearables, too, that can monitor workers' health.

On our part, when it comes to enforcement, we have also been using behavioural insights to target riskier firms. For construction, for example, MOM highlights to companies how their safety records faired relative to industry peers and calibrates our inspection frequency based on their standing. For manufacturing, transport and storage sectors, MOM uses big data to predict riskier companies and focuses inspections on them. Data models are refined continually to improve our enforcement.

We have also started publishing WSH learning reports. Also, to the Member's earlier point about safety training, we have also enhanced our mandatory safety courses for workers. So, from 2022, mandatory construction safety training will need to include experiential elements that simulate high-risk situations, such as falls from heights, collapsing scaffolding and crushed by machinery, so that workers, especially in construction, can better understand the workplace safety and health risks at the construction sites.

From 2022, cleaners will also undergo mandatory WSH courses which provide cleaners with skills to carry out their work safely. For example, addressing risks of slips and falls as well as in inhaling toxic fumes from detergents and working from heights. So, these are some of the measures that we are putting in place to make Singapore a safer place for all workers.

The Chairman: Mr Leong Mun Wai.

Mr Leong Mun Wai (Non-Constituency Member): Chairman, I thank the Ministers and Ministers of State for all the work that MOM is doing for the workers in Singapore. I have two questions.

First, I would like the Minister to confirm whether the Singaporean workers have been disadvantaged under the current employment regime whereby a wage disadvantage is against Singaporeans because foreign workers do not contribute to CPF, there is no quota on EP holders, there is no skills transfer requirement, there is no succession planning requirement. Is this a conscious trade-off that we have to make?

The second question: given that the Ministry has already done a lot of work on the PWM – and I appreciate the work that the Government has put in and this House is also of a consensus that all of us should be helping the lower wage workers more – so, why is it so difficult to take that one small step because we have already put in a lot of subsidies for the low-wage workers, just take that one small step to make it a blanket living wage or minimum wage? And then, we can concentrate our effort and resources on upgrading our workers through the vocational PWM that the Government has started. I think that is a very good step because we really have to upgrade the skills and the income of our higher wage workers actually. Those are the two questions.

Mrs Josephine Teo: Mr Chairman, I thank Mr Leong for his acknowledgement of MOM's work and also for his support for extending the PWM.

He has asked the question: why do you not just take that small step? Actually, we took that big step in 2007 through the introduction of Workfare and this comes at no cost to the employers and, therefore, no dis-employment risk to the worker. That step was already taken in 2007. I think, first of all, we have to recognise that. It is the broadest-based support that we are providing to lower wage workers. It comes every month; it supports the lower wage workers, not only cash payouts but also to build up their CPF so that, like all Singaporeans, they have the prospect of not just providing for their families but also providing for themselves in retirement. Workfare, in 2007, was a big step. Let us remember that.

To his question on whether we have disadvantaged Singaporeans, I am not sure whether Mr Leong was in here when Mr Liang Eng Hwa delivered his cut which, I thought, was so sharp in pointing out that when you look at 2020, the tremendous trauma that our employment market went through over the course of the whole year, what was the employment contraction? One hundred and seventy-plus thousand. Which segment of the workforce contracted? Foreign workforce – one hundred and eighty-plus thousand.

What happened to our resident workforce, local workforce? It actually grew, very modestly, but it grew. Which country can actually produce this report card? So, from that perspective, in what way has the local workforce been disadvantaged?

The Chairman: Ms Janet Ang.

Ms Janet Ang (Nominated Member): Chairman, let me declare that I am a council member of Singapore Business Federation (SBF). Thank you for all the presentations and the speeches earlier on. And, of course, Minister Josephine, if I can tell you, my niece took a traineeship and then she found a job. So, I am sure her cohort who did that would be very appreciative.

May I seek a clarification with the Minister on the timeline for PWM implementation in food services and retail?

I appreciate the NTUC's call to do this in two to three years. Indeed, SBF fully supports all the efforts to uplift our lower wage workers, especially with Workfare and PWM. The issue is, of course, timing.

I think I shared the national business survey by SBF. So, pardon if I repeat again. Among those negatively impacted, which comprise about two-thirds of the respondents and the majority are SMEs – 85% of the respondents are SMEs – 70% think that they will take more than a year to recover from the pandemic. The time horizon for global recovery, of course, we all know, is uncertain and, according to some global watchers, it could be as long as four to seven years. I spoke to my Mckinsey friends and they have got a big scenario planning thing. The best scenario, maybe one year. Of course, their worst scenario is four years. Since we are in pandemic mode, I guess we should take the worst – it will be about four years.

So, while I would like to see our low-wage workers earn more – and believe me, you, I really want to see that – but it may be early for our companies recovering from disruption to take on additional wage hikes. So, in my view, keeping jobs ought to take priority over wage hikes at this time. I checked with some of the businesses. Many of the small businesses are still struggling and, with the DRC and if plus wage hikes, they are going to quit. Our low-wage workers will only have wages if there are at least companies to work for. So, this is my dilemma. For those who understand the lingo, I am having an Isaac moment.

The Chairman: Ms Ang, can you come to the point?

Ms Janet Ang: Okay. So, I appreciate that MOM has had the unenviable task of balancing multiple demands. And SBF and the business community have pledged in the Sustainability Employment Report in 2019 to support opportunities and progression for our workforce, especially the vulnerable workers and the low-wage workers. So, I advocate for continued dialogue amongst all members in the tripartite workgroup (TWG), on a timeline that can be a win for all. So, speed with prudence. May I ask whether TWG will take my points into consideration?

Mr Zaqy Mohamad: Chairman, I note there is time constraint, so, I am just going to keep it short.

The Chairman: Yes, please.

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Mr Zaqy Mohamad: First, I thank the Member and SBF for supporting the initiatives of our tripartite work group. And that is precisely why PWM takes a very sectoral approach in which, we have just announced that we are setting up the tripartite cluster to study this for the Food and Beverage as well as the Retail sectors.

We fully understand the challenges of the sectors today. That is why we have made a conscious effort to hold back by a year, before we set up the tripartite work group to understand this. And rest assured, as said in my speech, we will look at the differences in the two sectors and the different business models that may occur. Even for the retail sector, we are mindful that there are also threats from e-commerce and therefore, we are also looking at the whole sector as a whole. These are adaptations that we have done in the past PWMs and we will continue to do so to study and adapt to every sector as required.

The Chairman: Mr Desmond Choo, would you like to withdraw your amendment?

Mr Desmond Choo: Chairman, I would like to thank Minister Josephine Teo, the public office holders, Permanent Secretary Aubeck Kam and the team of MOM officers for their ceaseless work over the last 14 months. They had been at the frontlines of COVID-19 and most of them still are. We know that many challenges and long hours await them as Singapore seeks to recover from the pandemic and tackle the structural forces. For that, we want to place on record for appreciation for the MOM officers. On that note, Chairman, I beg leave to withdraw my amendment.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

The sum of $7,075,047,900 for Head S ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates.

The sum of $101,951,000 for Head S ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates.