Levy For Foreign Workers Increase From $100 To $150
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will this really help singaporeans get a job?
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What are the changes to the S pass quota? Is there a change to the S pass levy and criteria?
With effect from 1 Oct 06, the company S pass quota will be increased from 5% to 10%.
For Manufacturing and Services sectors. The additional 5% will come from companiesÂ’ existing R pass quota. This intention is for companies to take on more S pass holders at the expense of R pass holders, thereby improving their foreign workforce profile (see Annex I for illustrations).
For Construction and Marine sectors. The additional 5% will also come from companiesÂ’ existing R pass quota. This is similar to the current 5% S pass quota for Construction and Marine companies, which already draws on companiesÂ’ existing R pass quota (see Annex I for illustrations).
The levy of $50 for S pass will remain unchanged. The criteria for S pass applications also remain unchanged. Please refer to MOM website at www.mom.gov.sg for further details.
My company has a frozen quota of 6 S pass holders. Do I get to keep the quota of 6 S pass in addition to the 10%?
In July 2004, MOM granted companies with existing Q2 pass holders a quota for S-passes that is equivalent to their existing number of Q2 pass holders (as at 30 June 2004 i.e. a frozen quota) or 5% of their workforce (excluding EP holders) whichever is the higher. This same principle will apply when the S Pass quota is increased to 10%. Your company will be granted the frozen quota or 10% of your workforce (excluding EP holders), whichever is the higher number. -
Dun think it help much. From employer views but not all , we r expensive and they r low cost. I think they shld draw a line somewhere of how many foreign workers they can employed.
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Stubborn. That's what I think of MOM.
So slow and reluctant to act on the age old imbalance of over-supply of foreign workers.
If our government will only ACT to reduce basic costs of living of Singaporeans, people will gradually be able to accept lower wages and take up the jobs that foreigners are now taking.
If they just only keep on increasing foreign workers levee, in time, Singapore will become way too costly for foreign businesses to operate - citing high cost of labour.
And then what? Make another friggin U-turn??? -
why dont they just set a cap on the number of foreigners that are allowed into the country?
increasing the levy only increase revenue for the govt. -
It's just like tobacco imports; it's bad for health to smoke, but it makes money for them. So they make ciggies expensive, draw small smokers' corners at coffeeshops, make life frustrating for smokers but not at all solving the problem of smoking.Originally posted by dragg:why dont they just set a cap on the number of foreigners that are allowed into the country?
increasing the levy only increase revenue for the govt.
Therefore, I don't think they are likely to cap foreign workers incoming. They will keep coming, and they urge us to upgrade to be competitive and all that jazz, but never solving the real issue - just more frustration fpr locals. -
Cheaper costs in west draw foreign business
Chengdu attracting record foreign investment and many blue-chip companies
Jul 17, 2006
The Straits Times
CHENGDU - CHEAP labour and lower start-up costs are luring foreign companies to Chengdu, helping to revitalise an ancient western city determined to close the gap with the more prosperous east.
Chengdu, China's western cultural and economic capital for centuries, has engineered a partial revival by raking in record foreign investment over the past six years, and vaunts the presence of 78 blue-chip companies.
Motorola, IBM, Intel, Coca-Cola and Toyota have led the charge of top brands that together have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into new factories. Swedish retail giant Ikea and German software giant SAP are next in line.
Chengdu's economic boom can also be seen in the towering new five-star hotels which host a growing number of foreign trade delegations drawn to the river city, teeming with new restaurants and luxury retail boutiques.
'Companies are considering Chengdu because everything is cheaper here,' said Mr Wang Yi, an official with the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade. 'The start-up costs are much higher in the eastern areas of China and the competition is fiercer.'
China's shoe industry is one sector that has already started moving operations to Chengdu in hopes of taking advantage of cheaper production costs, despite greater logistical challenges.
Ms Emmanuelle Hermandesse, manager for the Sino-French children's shoemaker Great Yield, bets that in five years' time, Chengdu will rival the traditional eastern shoe powerhouses of Fujian, Zhejiang and Guangzhou.
'You're paying a little more for transportation, but you're making that up with cheaper labour,' said Ms Hermandesse, who has relocated her main factory from south-eastern Fujian province to Chengdu.
Chengdu's economy has roared ahead, with average annual growth of 13 per cent over the past several years - well above the 10 per cent national average - but officials are still cautious about the city's prospects.
'We have favourable economic policies such as lower taxes but, in reality, we are still slightly behind the curve in Chengdu and this makes it more difficult to attract foreign companies,' said Mr Wang.
Today's Chengdu boasts highways, bridges, a first-class technology centre and an international airport - evidence of the billions of dollars that Beijing has ploughed into infrastructure.
But that investment has yet to translate into direct wealth for most of the city's 7.5 million residents. Average worker salaries of around 700 yuan (S$140) a month lag well behind those in premier economic centres such as Shanghai and Guangdong in the south, where the average worker makes at least double that amount.
Mr Richard Morgan, a Chengdu-based consultant working on Sino-EU business development projects, said that the onus is now on Chengdu and other western regions of China to become more entrepreneurial.
'The 'Develop the West' campaign has helped to develop infrastructure and provide valuable incentives to foreign companies but Chengdu and other western regions must increasingly rely on entrepreneurship and the private sector to market themselves as a destination for foreign investment,' Mr Morgan said. -- AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE -
they are always hiking this and that to increase their revenue, never meaning to really tackle the problems at hand.Originally posted by ShutterBug:It's just like tobacco imports; it's bad for health to smoke, but it makes money for them. So they make ciggies expensive, draw small smokers' corners at coffeeshops, make life frustrating for smokers but not at all solving the problem of smoking.
Therefore, I don't think they are likely to cap foreign workers incoming. They will keep coming, and they urge us to upgrade to be competitive and all that jazz, but never solving the real issue - just more frustration fpr locals. -
The so called problem to raise levy fees so as to create more openings for local sporeans does not hold. To employers as long as the job can be done by FT at a much cheaper price, even if with the increase, the employers will work out the sums and still not employ sporeans cuz it is still cheaper to employ FT overall.
To employers it is a matter about the bottom line especially in private sector. In civil sector it is a bit different cuz the local gahmen has a moral obligation to employ more local sporeans for obvious reason. However in jobs where no local sporean wanna take up, gahmen has no choice but to employ foreigner too.
To beat this trend, local sporeans gotta upgrade their skillset to such a level that it is sophisticated enuff to beat the FT skillset and encourage the employers to employ local sporeans. I know this is easier said than done but this is how it is rite now in spore. -
woa tats a big help ah....
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I agree and you have a point there about people upgrading their skillset to match that of the FTs. But the question is; how much the cost of upgrading, and for those who are basically cash-strapped and in dire need of a job and cannot afford TIME or MONEY to upgrade - HOW???Originally posted by sohguanh:The so called problem to raise levy fees so as to create more openings for local sporeans does not hold. To employers as long as the job can be done by FT at a much cheaper price, even if with the increase, the employers will work out the sums and still not employ sporeans cuz it is still cheaper to employ FT overall.
To employers it is a matter about the bottom line especially in private sector. In civil sector it is a bit different cuz the local gahmen has a moral obligation to employ more local sporeans for obvious reason. However in jobs where no local sporean wanna take up, gahmen has no choice but to employ foreigner too.
To beat this trend, local sporeans gotta upgrade their skillset to such a level that it is sophisticated enuff to beat the FT skillset and encourage the employers to employ local sporeans. I know this is easier said than done but this is how it is rite now in spore.
And not to mention that it isn't JUST locals' skillset in question, but there's age discrimination, and pregnancy stigma of female employees to boot!
For Singapore, the problem concerning Bread & Butter is multi-facetted. Because one factor, leads into a few sub-factors. It can be daunting.