Curbs on Migrant Worker Flows into Singapore and Impact on Business Growth, Costs and Inflation

Debated in Parliament on 10 Jan 2022.

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Mr Chong Kee Hiong inquired about current entry quotas and daily averages for migrant workers in key sectors, along with pre-COVID comparisons, while also seeking measures to address expected worker shortages and rising manpower costs due to inflation and potential border tightening.
Minister Tan See Leng stated that entry approvals resumed in late 2021, with monthly averages rising to 10,000 for services and 18,000 for construction, marine, and process sectors, compared to much lower numbers earlier in the year, and noted no pre-pandemic monitoring due to no restrictions.
The government introduced retention schemes, extended Foreign Worker Levy rebates and waivers to alleviate cost pressures, and emphasized long-term strategies like productivity gains, automation, and local workforce development to reduce reliance on foreign labor.

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Chong Kee Hiong

Mr Chong Kee Hiong asked the Minister for Manpower (a) what are the current entry quotas of migrant workers in the construction, marine shipyard and process sectors and the food and beverage sectors who are allowed to enter Singapore daily; (b) on average, how many of these migrant workers enter Singapore daily; and (c) how do these numbers compare with those in the period before the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of ratios.

Summary written by AI (learn more)

Mr Chong Kee Hiong inquired about current entry quotas and daily averages for migrant workers in key sectors, along with pre-COVID comparisons, while also seeking measures to address expected worker shortages and rising manpower costs due to inflation and potential border tightening.
Minister Tan See Leng stated that entry approvals resumed in late 2021, with monthly averages rising to 10,000 for services and 18,000 for construction, marine, and process sectors, compared to much lower numbers earlier in the year, and noted no pre-pandemic monitoring due to no restrictions.
The government introduced retention schemes, extended Foreign Worker Levy rebates and waivers to alleviate cost pressures, and emphasized long-term strategies like productivity gains, automation, and local workforce development to reduce reliance on foreign labor.

Questions identified by AI (learn more)

Curbs on Migrant Worker Flows into Singapore and Impact on Business Growth, Costs and Inflation | PAPERCUTS

Curbs on Migrant Worker Flows into Singapore and Impact on Business Growth, Costs and Inflation

Debated in Parliament on 10 Jan 2022.

Summary written by AI (learn more)

Mr Chong Kee Hiong inquired about current entry quotas and daily averages for migrant workers in key sectors, along with pre-COVID comparisons, while also seeking measures to address expected worker shortages and rising manpower costs due to inflation and potential border tightening.
Minister Tan See Leng stated that entry approvals resumed in late 2021, with monthly averages rising to 10,000 for services and 18,000 for construction, marine, and process sectors, compared to much lower numbers earlier in the year, and noted no pre-pandemic monitoring due to no restrictions.
The government introduced retention schemes, extended Foreign Worker Levy rebates and waivers to alleviate cost pressures, and emphasized long-term strategies like productivity gains, automation, and local workforce development to reduce reliance on foreign labor.

Questions identified by AI (learn more)

Full Transcript

Chong Kee Hiong

Summary written by AI (learn more)

Mr Chong Kee Hiong inquired about current entry quotas and daily averages for migrant workers in key sectors, along with pre-COVID comparisons, while also seeking measures to address expected worker shortages and rising manpower costs due to inflation and potential border tightening.
Minister Tan See Leng stated that entry approvals resumed in late 2021, with monthly averages rising to 10,000 for services and 18,000 for construction, marine, and process sectors, compared to much lower numbers earlier in the year, and noted no pre-pandemic monitoring due to no restrictions.
The government introduced retention schemes, extended Foreign Worker Levy rebates and waivers to alleviate cost pressures, and emphasized long-term strategies like productivity gains, automation, and local workforce development to reduce reliance on foreign labor.

Questions identified by AI (learn more)

Tan See Leng

We resumed entry approvals on 10 August 2021 for fully-vaccinated services sector workers; and on 15 October 2021 for construction, marine shipyard and process (CMP) sector workers to enter Singapore from 1 November 2021. A monthly average of 10,000 S Passes and Work Permit Holders (WPHs) from the services sector and 18,000 from the CMP sectors entered in November and December 2021, compared to a monthly average of 2,000 and 3,000 respectively between May and October 2021 when travel restrictions and tightened entry approvals were in place. We did not monitor the arrivals before the COVID-19 pandemic, as there were no entry restrictions then.

To help firms in the CMP sectors which need their workers urgently, there are ongoing initiatives in the industries to bring in workers safely with tightened end-to-end safe management processes.

The Government has also been working closely with the sectors to retain workers in Singapore, in order to address firms’ manpower challenges. For instance, MOM allowed a one-time renewal for CMP WPHs who did not meet the renewal criteria and worked with the Singapore Contractors Association Ltd to introduce a retention scheme for construction WPHs whose employments are terminated but who wish to continue working in Singapore.

In light of the increased manpower costs faced by the CMP sectors due to the evolving COVID-19 situation, the Government has recently extended the Foreign Worker Levy (FWL) rebate of $250 per month to March 2022 for all CMP WPHs. In addition, the Government has extended the FWL waiver for migrant workers (MWs) in all sectors for their entry Stay Home Notice period till December 2022. We will continue to closely monitor the situation and review whether a further extension of these measures will be necessary.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for firms to redouble their efforts to increase productivity through digitalisation and automation, diversify their foreign workforce and reduce their reliance on lower-skilled foreign manpower. This is necessary for our firms to improve their resilience in the long term. We will continue to support our firms to transform. We are also supporting firms to strengthen their local hiring by redesigning jobs to make them more attractive to local workers and tapping on a wider pool of jobseekers. We encourage firms to move from a “plug-and-play" approach to hiring to a “plug-train-and-play” approach. Many firms have been successful in making use of the support under the SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package to hire and reskill mid-career jobseekers.

Curbs on Migrant Worker Flows into Singapore and Impact on Business Growth, Costs and Inflation

Summary

Questions Identified

Full Transcript

Chong Kee Hiong

Summary

Questions Identified

Curbs on Migrant Worker Flows into Singapore and Impact on Business Growth, Costs and Inflation

Summary

Questions Identified

Full Transcript

Chong Kee Hiong

Summary

Questions Identified

Chong Kee Hiong

Chong Kee Hiong

Tan See Leng