Singaporeans Employed by Multiple Companies at Less than $1,500 at Each Company for Headcount
Ministry of ManpowerSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns the number of Singaporeans employed by multiple companies at less than $1,500 each for foreign worker quota headcounts, as raised by Mr Leong Mun Wai. Minister for Manpower Dr Tan See Leng stated that approximately half of the 53,200 locals working multiple jobs earn less than $1,500 per job on average. He explained that locals can count toward the quota of up to two firms, provided they earn the $1,400 Local Qualifying Salary (LQS) for a full count or $700 for a half count. This mechanism prevents employers from paying token salaries solely to increase quotas, while new rules since September 2022 require firms to pay all full-time locals the LQS to hire foreign workers. Minister for Manpower Dr Tan See Leng concluded that these measures and the Progressive Wage Model aim to ensure fairer wage outcomes for lower-wage workers.
Transcript
61 Mr Leong Mun Wai asked the Minister for Manpower what is the current number of Singaporean workers who are employed by two or more companies and paid less than $1,500 per month at each company, where such companies are using their Singaporean worker headcount to compute its foreign worker quota for work permit and S Pass holders.
Dr Tan See Leng: There are currently 53,200 locals who are working in two or more jobs. About half of them are paid less than $1,500 per month at each job on average. This includes locals who may be working on a part-time basis in two or more jobs.
We recognise that some locals may work in more than one job across different companies. To avoid disincentivising firms from hiring these locals, we allow locals to count towards the foreign worker quota of up to two companies.
Locals will count as one employee towards each employer’s foreign worker quota if they are paid at least the Local Qualifying Salary (LQS) of $1,400 a month. Locals will count as half an employee if they are paid at least half the LQS (i.e. $700 a month), such as in the case of a part-time worker. The use of the LQS ensures that employers do not hire locals on token salaries just to increase their foreign worker quota.
To uplift lower-wage workers, MOM will continue to work with tripartite partners through the Progressive Wage Model. The new Progressive Wage moves implemented on 1 September 2022 also include the new LQS requirement, which requires firms to pay all their full-time local workers at least the LQS, and not only those counting towards the quota, in order to be eligible to hire foreign workers. This move will secure fairer wage outcomes for a larger group of lower-wage workers. We will continue our efforts to ensure that our lower-wage workers are uplifted alongside the rest of Singapore.