Factors Considered in Drawing up COMPASS Shortage Occupation List

17 Mr Desmond Choo asked the Minister for Manpower (a) what are the key considerations and matrices used to decide on the Complementarity Assessment Framework (COMPASS) Shortage Occupation List; and (b) how does the Ministry balance between economic needs and ensuring these jobs are available for prospective new entrants, especially those who are still in school.

18 Mr Liang Eng Hwa asked the Minister for Manpower with regard to the Complementarity Assessment Framework (COMPASS) Shortage Occupation List (a) how does the Ministry determine if there is a shortage in any particular occupation; (b) whether the Ministry has the expertise to evaluate if there is a shortfall in a specialised skillset and it is unavailable in the local workforce; and (c) how does the Ministry track whether a company has fulfilled its commitment to develop local talents as part of the conditions under the framework.

The Minister for Manpower (Dr Tan See Leng): Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, may I have your permission to address Question Nos 17 and 18 together?

Mr Deputy Speaker: Yes, please proceed.

Dr Tan See Leng: Thank you. The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) evaluate occupations for the Complementarity Assessment Framework or COMPASS' Shortage Occupation List (SOL) based on three criteria: the first criterion being the strategic importance of the occupation to Singapore’s economic priorities; second, the degree and nature of labour shortage; and third, the sector’s commitment to developing the local pipeline to address these shortages.

Labour shortages are assessed based on a set of quantitative indicators. We derive this data from MOM's Job Vacancy Survey, as well as data from the MyCareersFuture job portal on job applications and vacancies. We also supplement this with qualitative assessments from the relevant sector agencies, alongside feedback and ground sensing from industry and tripartite partners. Together, this provides a good degree of triangulation. It provides MOM and MTI with a fuller understanding of labour market shortage conditions in the respective industries.

The SOL does not stand alone as a strategy to meet industry demand for skilled professionals. While the SOL helps companies access foreign professionals to plug immediate skills gaps and seize economic opportunities, it must also be complemented by robust efforts by industry to train up and place locals into these well-paying jobs. Hence, there must be clear plans, clear commitments by industry to develop the local pipeline, or else the occupation will not be included in the SOL.

To Mr Liang Eng Hwa’s question on tracking of commitments to develop the local pipeline, MOM and MTI work closely with sector agencies to set commitments around local training as well as employment at the aggregate occupation level. Rather than mandating fixed commitments for each firm, sector agencies have the flexibility to work closely with the firms, industry partners and education and training providers on plans to train and employ more locals with these skills in shortage. We will review that these commitments are met, as a key condition for renewing an occupation on the SOL.

To Mr Desmond Choo’s question on ensuring jobs are available for prospective new entrants, we regularly review the SOL to ensure it remains responsive to changes in the labour market, including taking into account our local graduate pipelines.

MOM and MTI will closely monitor indicators of shortage for each occupation and we will also track local graduate outcomes for the SOL occupations. The SOL will be reset every three years and we intend to adjust it annually to add or remove occupations if there are significant changes in industry demand or supply of skilled workers. This will help us to avoid entrenching dependencies on Employment Pass holders in any occupation.

Mr Deputy Speaker: Mr Desmond Choo.

Mr Desmond Choo (Tampines): Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir. I have two supplementary questions for the Minister. I thank him for the reassurance that it is a robust system to make sure that locals are not disadvantaged.

The first question is, what is the nexus or how closely does MOM work with the Ministry of Education (MOE) to ensure that the students who are going to the subjects, who are training for the occupations in need, adequately know that there is a strong demand and they will not be dissuaded because more foreigners are coming into those occupations?

The second question is: for the Shortage Occupation List (SOL), will MOM also monitor how the wages change over time and, indeed, if the wages are affected, meaning that they are not growing at the rate compared to other occupations, will MOM then similarly slow down or remove such an occupation from the list?

Dr Tan See Leng: Mr Deputy Speaker, I thank the Member for his two supplementary questions.

In terms of working with MOE, this will be one of the key impetus in terms of how we draft each one of the lists. The SOL, as I have shared earlier on, will be reviewed regularly to reflect current industry needs and shortages; and of course, in addition to earlier on, the adjustments annually. This will start on a fresh slate every three years so that we do not entrench any particular dependencies in any occupation.

So, we work with MOE in terms of the growth of our local pipeline, including that of university and polytechnic graduates, because the pipeline of these graduate should help us over time to ease the shortages over the medium to long term.

This is also further complemented and supplemented by other mid-career efforts, for instance, like the Career Conversion Programmes that we roll out through WSG and through the NTUC, the company training committees.

We expect that, with time, some of these occupations that are currently on the SOL will be removed, hopefully in the not-too-distant future.

On top of that, we also work with our other sector agencies, such as EDB, because they provide regular industry feedback to the Institutions of Higher Learning (IHLs) about the skills that are in demand, including those needed for occupations on the SOL, so that the IHLs can continue to update their course offerings accordingly.

We are in this state where change is accelerating and there are also significant disruptions to the job landscape. So, we also encourage all of our graduating students to continue to learn new skills upon graduation and to pursue opportunities in growth sectors.

We have also announced earlier on in our Committee of Supply (COS) debates this year about career health, about the add-ons in terms of the career finders to help our workers to continue to seek adjacencies in their upskilling, so that they can get better jobs, better paying jobs.

To the Member's second supplementary question about whether we monitor wage changes over time, indeed, we do, and that is why we have also been calibrating upwards our qualifying salary with regard to the Employment Pass as well as our S Pass minimum qualifying salaries. And that follows a graduated skill depending on the age of the foreign work pass holder. I hope that addresses the Member's concerns.

Mr Deputy Speaker: Mr Gerald Giam.

Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song (Aljunied): Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I have two supplementary questions for the Minister. Is the SOL proactively shared with schools and tertiary institutions so that they can provide career guidance to their students and encourage them to consider these jobs so that they can fill the shortage when they eventually graduate? Or would the Minister say that the SOL should not be used as a basis for career guidance for younger students, including those in secondary school?

Dr Tan See Leng: I thank Mr Giam for his supplementary questions. As I have shared earlier on, we live in a world where change is accelerating and the pace of disruption is also accelerating. So, on a broad directional guidance to schools, for instance, about our aspirational move into the greening of our economy, into sustainability, into the pivots and the transition into carbon credits, carbon trading and so on, the broad guidance we can continue to share with the schools. As I have said earlier on, we work with the sector agencies to continue to provide insights and inputs to our IHLs so that they can prepare our pipeline of graduates.

I think to the extent of getting to the granularity, our continued encouragement, our continued exhortation to all of our students, regardless of whether they graduate from the ITEs, the polytechnics or the IHLs, would be that they must continue to embrace this constant learning, constant upgrading and constant upskilling because the world we live in today has and will continue to be in this state of constant change. I hope that addresses the Member's question.