Curbs on Migrant Worker Flows into Singapore and Impact on Business Growth, Costs and Inflation
Ministry of ManpowerSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns the entry of migrant workers and measures to mitigate labor shortages and cost pressures in the construction, marine shipyard, process (CMP), and services sectors. Mr Chong Kee Hiong asked for arrival statistics and strategies to help businesses manage manpower constraints and inflation throughout 2022. Minister for Manpower Dr Tan See Leng reported that monthly arrivals for services and CMP workers reached 10,000 and 18,000 respectively in late 2021 following resumed entry approvals. To support firms, the government extended the $250 Foreign Worker Levy (FWL) rebate to March 2022 and the FWL waiver for entry quarantine periods through December 2022. Minister for Manpower Dr Tan See Leng further urged firms to utilize the SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package for job redesign and local hiring to improve long-term resilience.
Transcript
47 Mr Chong Kee Hiong asked the Minister for Manpower (a) what are the current entry quotas of migrant workers in the construction, marine shipyard and process sectors and the food and beverage sectors who are allowed to enter Singapore daily; (b) on average, how many of these migrant workers enter Singapore daily; and (c) how do these numbers compare with those in the period before the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of ratios.
48 Mr Chong Kee Hiong asked the Minister for Manpower what are the upcoming measures to help our industries cope with the shortage of workers that is expected to continue into 2022.
49 Mr Chong Kee Hiong asked the Minister for Manpower in view of rising inflation rates and the potential further tightening of border restrictions due to the recent surge in COVID-19 Omicron cases, whether there will be further measures to alleviate manpower cost pressures on businesses.
Dr Tan See Leng: We resumed entry approvals on 10 August 2021 for fully-vaccinated services sector workers; and on 15 October 2021 for construction, marine shipyard and process (CMP) sector workers to enter Singapore from 1 November 2021. A monthly average of 10,000 S Passes and Work Permit Holders (WPHs) from the services sector and 18,000 from the CMP sectors entered in November and December 2021, compared to a monthly average of 2,000 and 3,000 respectively between May and October 2021 when travel restrictions and tightened entry approvals were in place. We did not monitor the arrivals before the COVID-19 pandemic, as there were no entry restrictions then.
To help firms in the CMP sectors which need their workers urgently, there are ongoing initiatives in the industries to bring in workers safely with tightened end-to-end safe management processes.
The Government has also been working closely with the sectors to retain workers in Singapore, in order to address firms’ manpower challenges. For instance, MOM allowed a one-time renewal for CMP WPHs who did not meet the renewal criteria and worked with the Singapore Contractors Association Ltd to introduce a retention scheme for construction WPHs whose employments are terminated but who wish to continue working in Singapore.
In light of the increased manpower costs faced by the CMP sectors due to the evolving COVID-19 situation, the Government has recently extended the Foreign Worker Levy (FWL) rebate of $250 per month to March 2022 for all CMP WPHs. In addition, the Government has extended the FWL waiver for migrant workers (MWs) in all sectors for their entry Stay Home Notice period till December 2022. We will continue to closely monitor the situation and review whether a further extension of these measures will be necessary.
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for firms to redouble their efforts to increase productivity through digitalisation and automation, diversify their foreign workforce and reduce their reliance on lower-skilled foreign manpower. This is necessary for our firms to improve their resilience in the long term. We will continue to support our firms to transform. We are also supporting firms to strengthen their local hiring by redesigning jobs to make them more attractive to local workers and tapping on a wider pool of jobseekers. We encourage firms to move from a “plug-and-play" approach to hiring to a “plug-train-and-play” approach. Many firms have been successful in making use of the support under the SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package to hire and reskill mid-career jobseekers.