WORK PERMIT APPLICATIONS FROM SMALL BUSINESSES (Criteria for approval)

The following question stood in the name of Mr S. Chandra Das -

Mr S. Chandra Das: To ask the Minister for Labour whether he is aware of difficulties faced by small and medium-sized Singapore companies to obtain work permits for foreign workers; and what are the general guidelines for granting the necessary approval to these companies.

Mr Heng Chiang Meng: Question 9, Sir.

The Minister for Labour (Mr Lee Yock Suan): Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, in issuing work permits, a balance has to be struck between the need to help employers meet labour shortages and the need to minimize and mitigate the social and other problems associated with a large population of foreign workers. To try and achieve this balance, our foreign workers policy has the following features:

(a) Additional foreign workers are admitted to the four approved sectors which are manufacturing, hotels, construction and domestic services. Manufacturing and hotels are export-oriented economic sectors, earning valuable foreign exchange for the economy. They have to face international competition. The availability of foreign workers to meet shortages helps these sectors to remain internationally competitive. The foreign workers serve as a buffer to cushion the swings in our economic cycle. The construction and domestic service sectors face perennial lbour shortages because of the reluctance of Singaporeans to work in these sectors. The construction industry is also cyclical in nature.

(b) Companies are not allowed to recruit foreign workers beyond 50% of their workforce. This is to ensure that companies do not become over-dependent on foreign workers.

(c) A levy has been applied on all new foreign workers. The levy serves to dampen demand for unskilled foreign workers.

Within these broad guidelines, companies, whether small, medium-sized or large, local or foreign, may be permitted to recruit foreign workers. Companies are differentiated not by their size but by the nature of their operations, whether they are export-oriented and whether they can contribute to the upgrading of our economy.

Companies that fall outside the guidelines are allowed to retain and renew the work permits of their existing foreign workers. The workers are permitted to change jobs if they wish.

My Ministry also permits, and indeed encourages, employers, regardless of size and economic sector, to recruit foreign workers who have valuable skills or qualifications. This is done through the 3-year work permit scheme which allows companies to recruit vocationally skilled or academically qualified workers. Foreign workers, for example, who have an NTC-2 Trade Certificate, or 5 '0' levels, can be employed in any sector of the economy.

Mr Chng Hee Kok (Radin Mas): Sir, I would like to ask the Minister if it is true that workers have been recruited from the People's Republic of China to ease the labour shortage.

Mr Lee Yock Suan: Sir, Singapore has recruited foreign workers from numerous sources. The vast majority are from Malaysia and the other Asean countries. A small number are from India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the People's Republic of China (PRC). The number of workers from the PRC is kept small and manageable.