WE NOTE that Mr Philip Wong had written on the same subject ('Clear career path for low-paid Singaporeans'; Tuesday) to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) earlier to which we had replied.
Mr Wong's suggestion to abolish the S-Pass is untenable as businesses that require their skills will no longer invest in Singapore.
Fewer jobs will be created and this will backfire on Singaporean workers.
S-Pass holders help plug the gaps in the manpower pool and are necessary to help grow the economy as well as help provide critical services to Singaporeans in occupations such as nurses, teachers and technicians.
To encourage companies to hire better-qualified S-Pass holders with the right skills for the jobs, we have reviewed and recalibrated the eligibility criteria for S-Pass over the past few years so that only better qualified and more experienced applicants will be issued the pass.
The recent announcements on the increase in the levy on S-Pass holders and the tightening of the levy tiers are aimed at moderating the demand for S-Pass holders.
As for Mr Wong's proposal to increase the number of sources of Work Permit holders, he may wish to note that China is already an approved source of Work Permit holders.
However, adding more sources of Work Permit holders as suggested by Mr Wong will merely add to the pool of low-cost and low-skilled workers in Singapore and may instead impede ongoing efforts to help the very group of Singaporeans which the Government and Mr Wong both wish to help.
Besides workers, businesses like Mr Wong's should also do their part to press on with the productivity improvements and redesign their jobs to attract more Singaporeans.
To help low-skilled and low-income workers, the Government has invested heavily in developing our Continuing Education and Training framework, and will continue to strengthen outreach efforts and lower training barriers.
Low-wage workers can benefit from Workfare, which provides an income supplement as well as offers enhanced training support. This will help to improve the employability of low-wage Singapore workers by arming them with better skills so that they can take on better jobs and enjoy higher wages.
Farah Abdul Rahim (Ms)
Director, Corporate Communications
Ministry of Manpower
-- ST Forum