Debated in Parliament on 18 Sep 2023.
Mr Yip Hon Weng asked the Minister for Manpower (a) whether the Ministry makes available more accommodation ahead of time before approving more work passes for foreign workers; (b) whether the Ministry will work with employers who have committed to productivity measures in automation and technology and help them meet their targets before approving work passes for their foreign workers; and (c) how effective are the existing schemes to reduce reliance on foreign workers in the past three years.
Employers of Work Permit Holders (WPHs) are required to ensure that their WPHs have acceptable accommodation in Singapore, which may include dormitories, hostels and public or private residential housing. The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) issues a Work Permit only after the employer registers a valid address with MOM. MOM has been working with relevant Ministries to expand the dormitory bed supply and 17,000 dormitory beds have been added since December 2022.
Businesses know that to thrive in the long run, they need to transform, increase their productivity and reduce their reliance on WPHs. To this end, sector agencies have launched 23 Industry Transformation Maps (ITMs) to uplift productivity across the economy. Businesses can tap on various enterprise grants offered by sector agencies to adopt automation and technology and transform their businesses.
It is not practical for MOM to require each firm to commit to productivity measures and ascertain if targets have been met before approving work pass applications. Instead, MOM, in consultation with sector agencies, calibrates our foreign workforce policies, including the Dependency Ratio Ceilings (DRCs) which limit the number of WPHs that employers can hire, to support the push towards higher productivity. For example, the upcoming reduction of DRCs for the Construction and Process sectors from 1 January 20241 goes hand in hand with sector agencies’ plans to incentivise businesses to adopt more productive technologies.
PAPERCUTS