Potential Disruptions to Manpower Resources in Sectors Such as Cleaning and Hospitality as Singapore Reopens under Vaccinated Travel Lanes

Mr Chong Kee Hiong asked the Minister for Manpower what measures will be implemented to alleviate the disruptions to our manpower resources, particularly in sectors such as cleaning and hospitality which will experience higher labour demand in tandem with more visitors entering Singapore under the Vaccinated Travel Lane schemes.

Mr Speaker, COVID-19 has had a significant impact on our economy and labour market. In 2020, total employment contracted by 166,600 and this is the sharpest contraction in two decades. Foreign workers accounted for all of the employment decline, with Government support measures cushioning the impact on local workers.

In 2021, even as parts of the economy recover, border restrictions continue to constrain the supply of foreign workers to meet the pick-up in demand. At the same time, some foreign workers who were already in Singapore have returned home. In the first half of 2021, the total number of foreign workers continued to decline by another 32,600. All of this had led to increasing tightness in the labour market. The number of seasonally adjusted job vacancies in the overall economy rose to an all-time high of 92,100 in June 2021. The number of vacancies is especially acute in sectors which rely most on foreign workers, such as construction and manufacturing. The seasonally adjusted job vacancy to unemployed person ratio increased to 1.63 in June 2021, exceeding one for the first time since March 2019.

The Government has been working closely with companies to support their manpower needs. Firstly, we are helping companies to expand local hiring. Through the SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package, we have placed 140,000 locals into jobs and skills opportunities between April 2020 and end August 2021. The Jobs Growth Incentive (JGI) was introduced in September 2020 and has supported 58,000 businesses to hire more than 400,000 locals thus far. Overall, the number of employed residents has risen by 43,500 since the start of 2020.

Secondly, the Government is helping companies retain and hire foreign workers. For example, the Singapore Business Federation (SBF) is helping to match employers with hiring needs to experienced foreign workers already in Singapore but who are no longer needed by their current employers. We are also facilitating the safe inflow of new foreign workers to alleviate the manpower crunch. Our priority is to ensure that the risk of COVID-19 importation is well-managed to protect our public health.

With the progressive easing of border restrictions, it will also help facilitate the normalisation of foreign worker inflow. The Ministry of Health has recently announced the easing of measures for travellers from various countries, including Malaysia.

The Government will continue to monitor the situation closely, we will continue to work with the industry and companies to adjust to the progressive easing of restrictions and the return of demand.