Progress on Efforts Taken to Bring In New Workers for Construction Industry

Mr Edward Chia Bing Hui asked the Minister for Manpower (a) whether the Ministry can provide an update on the Retention Scheme in partnership with the Singapore Contractors Association Ltd (SCAL); and (b) what is the progress of efforts taken to bring in new workers with relevant skills to meet the needs of the construction industry, given the pandemic and transition towards a post-COVID-19 endemic environment.

The Retention Scheme has helped to reduce the number of construction workers leaving Singapore after their Work Permits have been cancelled. Since its implementation in September 2021, about 430 workers have been enrolled in the scheme. Sixty percent of them have already been successfully matched to new employers. The rest are in the process of being matched.

MOM has also been facilitating the entry of more construction workers into Singapore, within the parameters set by the Multi-Ministry Taskforce that take into consideration the COVID-19 situation domestically and internationally. There are also ongoing industry initiatives to bring in Construction, Marine and Process (CMP) workers safely with tightened end-to-end safe management processes. To date, 21,000 migrant workers have entered Singapore through these industry initiatives. In January, I updated that between November and December 2021, 18,000 CMP workers entered Singapore on average each month. Subject to the public health situation, we will continue efforts to bring in workers safely to support the industry.