Madam Speaker,
Commend this year’s Budget for creating opportunities for the future and providing immediate help for those in need.
A central theme is about investing in our people and giving workers access to training and good job opportunities.
Strong support is also given to businesses, especially SMEs, to become better, more productive & competitive.
I would like to share insights and recommendations for 3 groups of workers.
Back-to-work Women
Last year, I called for more employment assistance for back-to-work women.
Through initiatives such as WorkPro, employers can obtain incentives to create a supportive work environment.
Consequently, data for females who wish to return to work also painted a positive picture.
Overall female labour force participation rate rose significantly from 50.9% in 2003 to 58.1% in 2013.
But for those in the prime-working ages of 25 to 54, the improvement is very slight, from 74% in 2012 to 74.3%.
Previously I have requested for Special Employment Credit for employers who hire back-to-work women.
Maybe the Government can giving bigger incentives to first movers or companies who are prepared to do more of family-friendly practices.
Practices may include flexible work arrangements, work from home options, and nursing facilities or childcare support at work place etc.
Many back-to-work women welcome enhancements to the Kindergarten Fee Assistance Scheme, which defray some costs when they return to work.
Having more and better childcare support such as the plans to increase the number of childcare centres and enhancing the quality of early childhood educators will also give mothers much assurance.
Call on community, businesses, employers, colleagues & family members to continue to give support for our working mothers.
Ex-offenders
Another worker segment of concern is ex-offenders.
This is despite the fact that efforts to equip offenders to enhance their employability and facilitate work reintegration have yielded more inmates bagging a job before their release.
Recent report from Singapore Prison Service however, showed that recidivism rate for ex-offenders has gone up.
In 2013, more ex-offenders commit a crime within two years of completing reformative training or jail.
Among ex-offenders I met, many continue to have low self-esteem, and shared that they find getting employment and acceptance at the workplace a tough challenge.
Could it be that the effectiveness of our current initiatives has hit a plateau?
Imperative that we do more to help ex-offenders re-integrate back to society.
Freelancers and self-employed
At last budget, I also shared about another segment of vulnerable workers; i.e. freelancers and the self-employed. This is not to be confused with persons who own and operate their own businesses such as shop proprietors.
The group includes tour guides, adult educators, taxi drivers, sports coaches, real estate agents & others.
While this group of workers work in a non-traditional employment arrangement, their working environment and challenges are generally no different from the 85% of Employed Resident who are employees.
Whilst many of us are envious of their independence, not many are aware of the struggles they face.
Recently, I met with some of them at a NTUC event to discuss views and recommendations on MediShield Life.
They do not receive Central Provident Fund (CPF) contributions by employers.
They do not enjoy medical or leave benefits.
They are also not assured of a steady stream of income.
Mostly, they are worried about not being able to pay for premiums for insurance, housing loan, medical fees etc, should they lose their ability to work and have no income.
They shared with me their fearful experience during the SARS outbreak in 2003.
Tourism sector was badly hit back then.
Many taxi drivers and tour guides had no or little income for a long period of time.
Moving in the right direction
We need to tailor our programmes to help the freelancers and self-employed.
Heartened to know we have made progress in the right direction.
Recently, the amendments to the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) Act offered greater protection to tour guides by increasing enforcement against illegal guiding.
This is important as it will affect the quality and livelihood of our local tour guides.
Minister for Trade and Industry has also agreed to consider my recommendation to put in place a capability development plan to upgrade our tour guides.
Some guides face conflicts in their remuneration and unfair contract terms with travel agents.
In considering how to set up a mediation centre, I hope STB can quickly gather views from businesses, tour guides and the union to address such concerns.
Similarly, Land Transport Authority is also working with the National Taxi Association and taxi companies on a mediation scheme to settle disputes.
I am also aware that the Council for Private Education has a compulsory mediation system in place for students and private education institutes. I hope they can extend this mediation to freelance adult educators. Some adult educators share that they face challenges of unfair payment terms, recovery of payments as well as contractual disputes.
The Workforce Development Agency of Singapore and Institute of Adult Learning are also looking for ways to uplift the industry, increase capability of adult educators; and increase their business opportunities.
Trainers I spoke with welcome the $500 million top up of the Lifelong Learning Endowment Fund.
More workers will be upgraded.
This also means more business opportunities for them as more people attend training.
What we can do more
Our society has a role to play to help those who are prepared to help themselves.
Pool of freelancers and self-employed in Singapore is growing and are an integral part of our workforce.
There are three areas which I hope we can do more to help freelancers and the self-employed.
1. Recognise and appreciate capabilities
I noticed that it is still not common to see Workforce Skills Qualifications (WSQ) as a criterion in job advertisements or skills specifications in tenders.
This needs to change even as more freelancers take on certifications but struggle with its recognition.
I hope the Government, employers & buyers can speed up the recognition of training certification such as WSQ or other nationally recognised certifiable courses.
We need to do more to raise the public awareness of WSQ skills qualifications.
Where in the past buyers are not sure how to assess the skills level of the freelancers, they can now do so via skills certification.
This will enable them to also pay appropriate fees based on the expertise of those freelancers they engage.
For instance, I recently went to a hair salon and saw that there were different fees charged for different grades of hairstylist. This is in recognition of the different skills level attained.
More segments of freelancers should also be able to obtain absentee payroll when going for license renewal courses, WSQ or Skills Development Fund-recognised certification on their own.
2. Create business opportunities
Another area we can also help freelancers and self-employed is to look at how we can assist them to market their services via different platforms.
For instance, Singapore will be organising the Sea Games in 2015.
Beyond getting more locals to volunteer & support, we should also get more to start playing sports or pick up a new sport.
This will open up and create business opportunities for freelance sports coaches and trainers.
3. Provide support to save up personal contingency
The third area is to give them support so that they can do more to save up for personal contingency.
Personal contingency includes the ability to pay for housing, healthcare, deal with temporary loss of income and save for retirement etc.
These are challenges similarly faced by other workers, but there is a fundamental difference for those who are freelancers.
They have to make provision for these contingencies on their own.
The Finance Minister announced that the Government will defray employers’ share of the increased CPF contribution rate for employees age 50-55 with a Temporary Employment Credit. Previously, employers also receive additional support via the Special Employment Credit for hiring older workers.
I would like to urge that the Government consider giving the same quantum under the Temporary Employment Credit to the group of freelancers and self-employed who make voluntary contributions to their medisave?
I would like to also call for the same amount of Workfare Income Supplement payout to be given to the self-employed, if they qualify for Workfare.
Currently they only receive a portion of what employed workers are getting.
Conclusion
Our freelancers and self-employed workers are a unique category of workforce which drives economic growth of Singapore.
We need a calibrated and measured approach to help them meet their needs.
Our economic transformation should include the doing more to help overcome the challenges faced by back to work women and ex-offenders.
Mdm Speaker, with that, I support the Budget.
