SINGAPOREANS MARRYING WORK PERMIT HOLDERS (Profile)

Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon asked the Minister for Labour if he will give a profile of those Singaporeans who have applied for permission to marry work permit holders.

The Minister for Labour (Mr Lee Yock Suan): Mr Speaker, Sir, in 1989, 80% of the Singaporeans who applied for permission to marry work permit holders were males. Of these male Singaporean applicants, about 70% had at least secondary education. This was higher than the 60% single male Singaporeans, aged 20 and above and with at least secondary education, in our entire population. In other words, a higher proportion of male Singaporeans with at least secondary education had applied to marry work permit holders. This is contrary to the popular notion that more lowly educated Singaporean men are applying to marry work permit holders.

In comparison, of the female Singaporean applicants, about 66% had at least secondary education. This was lower than the 75% of our single female population with similar education.

As may be expected, most of the applicants were young. About 70% were 30 years old or younger.