The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has highlighted its priorities for the year at this year’s Committee of Supply Debate on 3 March 2021.
These include the ministry’s more immediate-term goal of increasing local hires; helping every workforce segment emerge stronger in the medium to longer-term; supporting business transformation – especially for small, medium enterprises (SMEs).
Leading the debate for MOM, Manpower Minister Josephine Teo said: “The recovery will be uneven. Retrenchments may slow down but not fall to pre-COVID levels. Both workers and employers will continue to need help with job-matching and to pivot towards new jobs.
“Beyond immediate concerns, we must not lose sight of the medium- and longer-term. Digitalisation, remote work, widening income gaps and an ageing workforce will continue to challenge us. We must aim to overcome the crisis and help every segment of the workforce emerge stronger.”
Mrs Teo shared that $5.4 billion has been set aside to support the hiring of 200,000 locals through the Jobs Growth Incentive (JGI) and provide 35,000 traineeships, attachments and training opportunities this year.
Mrs Teo also said that JGI may also help address the issue of unemployment and under-employment – a point raised by NTUC Assistant Secretary-General Patrick Tay.
She said: “Around three in 10 JGI hires were not previously in a job; the majority had been out of work for more than six months. In other words, the JGI uplifted those who were long-term unemployed as well.”
Mrs Teo shared that more than 6 in 10 workers got the same or higher pay than their last-drawn through the JGI.
Mrs Teo shared that MOM will increase the statutory minimum retirement age from 62 to 63, and the statutory re-employment age, up to which employers are obliged to offer eligible employees with re-employment opportunities, from 67 to 68.
She said: “For the older age group, it is fair that they have the opportunity to work longer. It will help them build up more for retirement. In this regard, I fully agree with NTUC Deputy Secretary-General Brother Heng Chee How and Mr Yip Hon Weng.”
To prepare for any future outbreaks, Second Minister for Manpower Tan See Leng said that MOM will work on three key areas to protect the migrant worker community living in dormitories.
For one, it will strengthen entry controls and measures through the establishment of a Migrant Worker Onboarding Centre (MWOC).
The MWOC will pilot an end-to-end onboarding process for all construction, marine and process sector work permit and S Pass holders entering Singapore.
Secondly, the ministry will also be reviewing the scope of the Foreign Employees Dormitories Act (FEDA) to cover all dormitories – regardless of size.
“This will allow us to bring the regulation of all dormitories under a single Act, to introduce housing standards and safe living requirements in all dormitories through FEDA,” said Dr Tan.
This addresses the concerns of several MPs, including NTUC Director of the Operations and Mobilisation Division Secretariat Mohd Fahmi Aliman, who hoped that the scope of FEDA could be increased to cover more foreign worker accommodations.
And lastly, MOM will establish a resilient and safe support ecosystem to care for migrant workers – one that will provide sustainable healthcare, as well as support and care through engagement and partnerships with non-government organisations and migrant worker volunteer groups.
Dr Tan said: “COVID-19 provided the impetus for us to relook how we engage and support the migrant workers. We will establish a resilient and safe support ecosystem to care for our migrant workers…
“Beyond this pandemic period, we will take stock of the healthcare ecosystem for migrant workers residing in dormitories and other housing types, to see how we can sustain long-term access to primary healthcare in a cost-effective and culturally-sensitive way.”
“We will continue to build on Workfare and extend the PWM (Progressive Wage Model) to cover more workers. This combination is a sustainable way to uplift our lower-wage workers through better wages and work conditions,” said Senior Minister of State Zaqy Mohamad.
With that said, he announced that the Tripartite Workgroup on Lower Wage Workers will expand PWM to Food Services and Retail Sectors, with plans to at least double the PWM coverage in the next two to three years.
The move could potentially benefit up to 80,000 local workers in the sector.
This addresses the concerns raised by NTUC Secretary-General Ng Chee Meng, as well as Labour Members of Parliament Koh Poh Koon and Yeo Wan Ling, on uplifting the salaries of the lower-wage workers in the sectors.
Mr Zaqy said that the Tripartite Cluster committees will target to submit their recommendations on the timeline and other implementation details to the Government by the end of this year.
The Tripartite Workgroup will also explore extending the PWM to workers beyond the outsourced sectors, in particular, to workers whose companies employ in-house staff to perform these roles.
A point raised by Dr Koh, the extension of the existing PWM to cover these workers could benefit up to 50,000 workers.
“We intend to consult key affected sectors on a suitable timeline to move forward,” said Mr Zaqy.
On the recent spate of workplace accidents, MOM will appoint an Inquiry Committee to study the causes and recommend preventive measures, including policy or regulatory changes if necessary.
In response to NTUC Assistant Secretary-General Melvin Yong’s question on the number of main contractors prosecuted for Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) lapses by their sub-contractors, Mr Zaqy acknowledged that sub-contractors are not the only ones responsible for WSH.
“Main contractors must also be responsible for ensuring overall safety across their worksites, including managing the safety performance of sub-contractors on their sites,” he said.
To motivate both main and sub-contractors to improve their workplace safety practices, Mr Zaqy highlighted the CheckSafe e-service, launched in January 2021, which publishes construction companies’ safety track records online.
“We intend to expand this to other sectors for service buyers to influence WSH through their choice of contractors,” he said.
MOM will also release later this year, a framework emphasising safety performance for public sector construction tenders.
Mr Zaqy said MOM is working with employers and human resource groups to promote the adoption of the Tripartite Advisory on Mental Well-being at Workplaces. It will track the adoption through MOM surveys every two years, with the first run occurring later this year.
He was responding to Mr Yong’s query on the adoption of the recommendations in the Tripartite Advisory on Mental Well-being at Workplaces, including Employment Assistance Payment (EAP).
“We will also emphasise de-stigmatising help-seeking behaviour, to address any hesitance in tapping on EAP services,” he said.
The SGUnited Traineeships Programme will be extended by an additional year till 31 March 2022, said Minister of State for Manpower Gan Siow Huang.
The programme aims to support new graduates from tertiary education institutions in taking up traineeship opportunities across various sectors.
“We will raise the training allowances for our ITE and Polytechnic graduates. This is to give an extra boost to our ITE and Polytechnic graduates, who are facing more difficulty in finding jobs,” said Ms Gan.
From 1 April 2021, to help sustain graduates while they take their traineeships, the Government will increase the monthly training allowance for ITE and diploma graduates by $300.
This will bring the training allowances for both groups to $1,800 and $2,100 respectively.
Ms Gan also shared that MOM has been reviewing measures to better support Foreign Domestic Workers (FDWs) and strengthen safeguards against abuse.
She said that the ministry has been working with employment agents to ensure FDWs – in particular those working in Singapore for the first time – are settled in well with their employers, and have been conducting one-on-one interviews after newly arrived FDWs start work with employers.
MOM will also work with the medical fraternity to better identify signs of abuse or distress, and partner organisations like Centre for Domestic Employees (CDE) and Foreign Domestic Worker Association for Social Support and Training (FAST) to expand their outreach and engagement, strengthening the network of support to FDWs.
She noted: “These measures do not in any way, remove or reduce the responsibility of each employer to take care of his or her foreign domestic worker. Neither can they eliminate completely the risk of foreign domestic worker abuse.
“But we must do all we can to minimise its incidence and build a culture of respect for foreign domestic workers, in our homes and the community.”
MOM will provide an update on these measures at a later date.
