Impact of Restricted Inflow of Foreign Workers on Population and Companies' Operations

7 Ms Jessica Tan Soon Neo asked the Minister for Manpower (a) whether the restricted inflow of workers to Singapore has affected companies in Singapore and their ability and capacity to meet business commitments; and (b) what measures are being considered to mitigate the impact on companies and the products and services they provide to Singaporeans.

8 Mr Pritam Singh asked the Minister for Manpower (a) from November 2020 to April 2021, how many In-Principle Approvals (IPA) and successful Entry Passes respectively have been granted to Work Permit and S Pass applicants from the construction, marine and process sectors on a monthly basis; and (b) whether the Ministry will expand the list of source countries from where companies in these sectors can employ foreign workers to work in Singapore.

9 Mr Leong Mun Wai asked the Minister for Manpower (a) whether the contraction in total employment of non-residents by 181,500 throughout 2020 is also matched by a decline in the total population of non-residents in Singapore in the same period; (b) what are the reasons why non-residents who lose their jobs in Singapore may not be required to leave immediately; (c) how many non-residents who lost their jobs in 2020 have been allowed to remain in Singapore; and (d) how many non-residents who lost their jobs in 2020 have been re-employed in Singapore.

The Second Minister for Manpower (Dr Tan See Leng) (for the Minister for Manpower): Mr Speaker, Sir, may I take Question Nos 7, 8 and 9 together?

Mr Speaker: Yes, please.

Dr Tan See Leng: Ms Jessica Tan and Mr Pritam Singh asked about the restricted inflow of workers and what we are doing to support businesses affected by these restrictions.

Businesses have, indeed, been affected, quite badly, particularly with the Construction, Marine Shipyard and Process (CMP) sectors being the hardest hit as they rely heavily on migrant workers for jobs that few locals would want to work in. In 2020, the number of Work Permit holders in the CMP sectors declined by nearly 60,000 or about 16%.

We are very mindful of the manpower crunch that these firms face today. Besides providing financial relief to help them, we are also taking steps to alleviate the manpower shortage. From November 2020 right up to April 2021, we granted entry approvals to an average of 5,100 S Pass and Work Permit holders per month. However, restrictions on inflow of workers from higher risk countries is likely to persist for some time. This is as the size of the inflow coming in has to be reduced when the COVID-19 situation deteriorates in these source countries from where they come from, and we can only increase these inflows when the situation in these home countries improve. Because this is the only way we can ensure the safe inflow of the workers, whilst managing and mitigating the risk of transmission in our community.

So, to help businesses tap on workers from other countries, the Government recently announced that we are increasing the existing foreign worker levy rebates for Work Permit holders in the CMP sectors from $90 to $250 per Work Permit holder per month. This will last from May to December 2021. Employers can make use of these rebates to bring in workers from alternative sources, such as China, where the workers are generally higher skilled and, at the same time, command higher wages.

The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and Building and Construction Authority (BCA) also recently announced a temporary scheme to allow these new Work Permit holders from China to obtain their skills certification in Singapore, since some of the Overseas Testing Centres in China have not resumed operations. BCA and the Economic Development Board will continue to engage firms and we will continue to review if additional measures are needed to help the CMP sectors through this crisis.

In the meantime, we encourage businesses to retain their existing migrant workers and tap on other workers that are already here in Singapore.

Mr Leong Mun Wai asked if the non-resident employment decline in 2020 of 181,500 was matched by the decline in total population of non-residents within the same period. The answer is yes.

He also asked about repatriation arrangements. When a work pass expires or is cancelled, we typically require the worker to leave Singapore in two to four weeks. This depends, of course, on the pass type. Time is given for the employer to arrange repatriation and also for the worker to settle his or her own personal affairs, such as closure of bank accounts and termination of leases.

Each year, about 30% of all work pass holders do not continue employment with their original employer and have their passes expired or cancelled. If the work pass holder is able to find new employment before repatriation, there is no reason for us to purposefully force this worker to return to his home country, for him to incur additional recruitment fees from overseas employment agents, to undergo additional COVID-19 testing and, on return to Singapore, to serve up to 21 days Stay-Home Notice (SHN). Furthermore, making the worker do this unnecessary round-trip would increase the risk of him returning with a COVID-19 infection.

On the other hand, however, if the work pass holder does not find new employment before the deadline, we ensure that his former employer will fulfil its obligation to successfully repatriate the worker.

If we had insisted that the worker had to leave Singapore even though he has already found an employer, we would have had to allow the entry of nearly double the number of workers last year, and this would further strain our SHN facilities. Of course, the alternative would be to compound further the manpower difficulties faced by businesses, as what the hon Member of Parliament Ms Jessica Tan and also Mr Pritam Singh have highlighted.

Mr Speaker: Mr Pritam Singh.

Mr Pritam Singh (Aljunied): Thank you, Mr Speaker. I thank the Minister for replying to the Parliamentary Question (PQ). We have heard about anecdotes of companies applying for entry permits for their workers 30, 40, sometimes almost 50 times for one In-Principle Approval (IPA). It sounds like a large number; and, of course, the companies get frustrated. On the other hand, there is also an acknowledgement that the Government has to control the COVID-19 situation as best it can. So, it is a very fine balancing act.

Nonetheless, I have three supplementary questions for the Minister.

First, how long is MOM proposing to extend the IPA of Work Permit and S Pass holders respectively in view of their repeated unsuccessful entry pass applications? I understand MOM extends it one time as a given. That means if the IPA is for three months for the Work Permit holder, MOM will extend it automatically. Is this going to continue?

The second question is: would MOM be amenable to reimburse IPA application fees if, for whatever reason, the applying company decides, "Look, I don't think it is possible to continue with this uncertainty". So, would MOM consider reimbursing the IPA cost if the entry pass just does not come through?

The third question pertains to the second part of my two-part PQ. Some contractors have suggested non-traditional source countries like Vietnam as a potential source for workers. I know there is a long tail to this, it is not a case of just getting a person from any country; there is a whole process of training, and so on and so forth. Would this be something the Ministry would look into?

Dr Tan See Leng: I thank Mr Pritam Singh for his questions. For the IPA, the In-Principle Approvals, and the entry approvals or the final entry approvals, there are actually two separate independent processes. Obviously, we do receive and we do give out a lot more IPAs than the entry approvals.

One of the key challenges of this pandemic is the fact that the situation is extremely fluid and dynamic. Why do I say it is fluid and dynamic? Because of the source countries where our workers come from, the situation back in many of these source countries – I think you have seen in the news – what we are seeing are successive waves of infection. So, as a result of that, you find that at the point of application of the IPA, as long as it fulfils the requirements of what we have in terms of what is needed for them to come in, we grant the approval. But to regulate the control in terms of the onboarding of these migrant workers coming into Singapore, we do it via the entry approval route. And that is dependent on the risk quota which we are able to accept. It is also a function of certain Not-to-Land (NTL) Restrictions, for instance, that the MTF decides and, at the same time, also a function of how many of these SHN facilities we have available.

Earlier on in the year, we announced the set-up of the Migrant Worker Onboarding Centre, which is a one-stop centre to screen all of them, so as to make sure that it is safe before they go into the community. So, it is also a function of the number of beds that we have. Because of that, you find that the IPAs usually will far exceed the number of actual entry approvals coming into Singapore. So, I hope that part of it is cleared up.

To the Member's point about whether we can grant an extension – depending on the different Pass types, whether it is EP, S Pass and Work Permit – to the IPAs with different lengths of validity, today, the default answer to the point about the renewals and the automatic extension of IPAs – that is what we are now doing. However, we are seeing that because of the backlog of cases – that backlog has increased significantly. As a result, even if you allow for an automatic extension of that IPA, it does not make sense because that extension is going to go months ahead without any certainty as to whether, ultimately, we can grant the entry approvals. That is where the challenge is today. Because we have no way of telling how the pandemic, the control of the situation, the number of infections, the successive wave of infections from many of these source countries where we get our workers from, can actually provide certainty of control of the outbreak of these infections.

So, to that end itself, I guess the long answer to your question is that the extension of the validity of these IPAs is something that we are now reviewing. Because if it is too long again in the future, it does not make sense.

To the second point about refunds and reimbursements, indeed, we are considering that as well. We are trying to find a more nuanced way, so that we can make it a lot easier.

For the diversification of source countries, across the different Ministries – MND, BCA, ourselves, as well as MOT and ICA – we are exploring that collectively and we have started to reach out to counterparts in many of these other source countries, the non-traditional sources, to see how we can onboard them. But, obviously, this would take time because there are also language and cultural issues. These are things that we have to take into consideration.

Mr Speaker: Ms Jessica Tan.

Ms Jessica Tan Soon Neo (East Coast): I thank the Minister for his response. I do have just one supplementary question. With regard to the industries, I know that the marine shipyard, construction and process industries have been most impacted. But I am also concerned about the small and medium enterprises or SMEs in terms of the services and their ability to continue to operate outside of these industries. There are some jobs – especially for Work Permit holders – that many of these SMEs are facing difficulty in terms of the ability to renew the Work Permits for, as well as to get sufficient workers for jobs that they are finding hard to fill, even as they look at alternative sources in Singapore.

So, my question to the Minister is, in terms of the extensions for existing Work Permit holders or S Passes for workers in Singapore, can that be considered, especially for the SMEs, because one or two workers make a big difference for them in terms of their ability to continue to operate?

Dr Tan See Leng: I thank Ms Jessica Tan for her very, very pertinent and very important question. Indeed, at this particular point in time, we are in crisis mode. So, all the appeals that come from all sectors, we will consider and we will review them. That is the reassurance that we can give.

On top of the appeals to grant extensions, we should also take note of the tremendous slew of measures that the Government has put forth to support SMEs – in the form of Job Support Scheme, the Job Growth Incentive. On top of that, we have got quite a number of other schemes to try and support our entire economy and our industry. So, it is not just one aspect or measure to help the SMEs only. Ms Tan will be comforted to know that the Government has also put in a very comprehensive set of measures to help support them as well.

Mr Speaker: Mr Leong Mun Wai.

Mr Leong Mun Wai (Non-Constituency Member): Thank you, Mr Speaker. I have one clarification for the Minister. The Minister confirmed that last year, there was a contraction of about 180,000 in non-resident employment and there was also an outflow of these people from Singapore. Recently, there is also a number that said that there is a shortage of about 60,000 workers in the CMP sectors. So, can I confirm whether there has been a re-entry of 130,000 foreign workers into our country in the last few months?

Dr Tan See Leng: I thank Mr Leong for his question. If I may sort of couch it this way: net net, in the entire industry itself, from March of 2020, right up till April this year, for the CMP sectors, which include the Work Pass as well as the S Pass, there is an average net outflow of 2,400 workers a month.

If you just take construction alone, the net outflow is about 1,800 per month. For the services sector, which we sort of follow through, we are about 42,000 lower than last year, same period, that means March 2020. So, that represents a net outflow of 3,200 per month. This is just for the services sector.

So, if you add both the CMP sector plus the services sector, the net outflow is about 5,600 per month.

From November last year till April this year, when we started to resume opening up the inflow of workers to address our severe acute shortage in all of our industries, on the average per month – as I have alluded to in my earlier statement – 5,100 workers came in for that few months. We could not sustain that inflow because of the fact that – as I have said – the situation is very dynamic and very fluid. The moment in any of these source countries the infection rates go up, we would have to throttle the number again.

So, I hope that gives Mr Leong a sense of how acutely or how grave the shortage of workers is today in our industry.