Tag Archives: LIM SWEE SAY

According to the Straits Times news report “S’pore faces challenge of ‘three peaks’: Swee Say“ (Aug 28) – “The leaders who emerge from the Sept 11 General Election will have to tackle key challenges posed by peaks in Singapore’s workforce, population and the elderly. Calling them the “three peaks”, Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say said yesterday that much is at stake at the polls because strategies will have to be found to address the implications of these issues.”

According to Minister for Manpower Lim Swee Say, although the issue of foreign labor is a hot topic these days, the more critical issue is about the remodeling of the Singapore economy. As growth moderates, Mr Lim says Singapore's economy has to restructure into one that is less reliant on manpower, creates better jobs and ensures a healthy delivery of Singaporean workers, who ideally form the core (at least two-thirds) in all the major sectors.

Deputy Chairman of the People’s Association (PA) Minister Lim Swee Say said that the PA broke financial regulations out of “good intentions” and “for the benefit of residents”, citing S$3.67 million worth of contracts which awarded contracts without a tender:

The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) says that out of 150 firms that it had called in for "talks" over the past year, 38 were identified for close scrutiny as they were not doing enough to hire and groom Singaporeans.

Adrian Chua, Divisional Director of Manpower Planning and Policy Division in MOM, replied to the reader and others in ST Forum today (18 Jul). Mr Chua began by saying that MOM “takes a serious view” of foreign PMEs using fake degrees to seek employment in Singapore. He said, “We have caught more than 5,000 such applicants with forged qualifications between 2012 and last year. They have been banned from working in Singapore for life.”

According to the My Paper news report “Foreign share of workforce to remain at one-third” (Jul 15) – “The Government aims to maintain the foreign share of Singapore’s workforce at the current one-third level, at a pace that the country can accomodate”.

Responding to a question from MP Gan Thiam Poh (Pasir-Ris Punggol GRC) in Parliament on Tuesday, Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say said that foreign labor would be capped at the current one-third of the population in Singapore today. Mr Lim told the House that overall annual foreign workforce growth has moderated from 144,500 in 2007 to 34,000 in 2014. The slowdown, he says, was across all sectors.

When it comes to the PAP's latest U-turn on hiring Singaporeans first, I have only 2 questions for the ministers - Why now and Why so late?

Nope, businesses, you won’t be getting more leeway from the government when it comes to foreign labour. New Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say says the government will not waiver from its position, and told companies to give up hope of having a higher quota for foreign workers.

Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say had strong words for companies who are always appealing for leniency for foreign worker quotas. He said companies needed to realise that there is no turning back on foreign worker policies. He stated that Singapore can no longer afford to adopt a liberal policy towards taking in foreign labour if Singapore were to continue on this path, soon the local to foreign manpower ratio would be come 1:1.