MINISTRY OF MANPOWER

DR LEE BOON YANG Minister for Manpower

1. Manpower planning, manpower development, attracting international talent, occupational safety and health, and tripartite co-operation and industrial harmony remain the key components of our strategies to develop our manpower resources.

Manpower Planning and Development: Managing the Present, Preparing for the Future

2. To help workers tackle the current downturn, a Jobs Task Force (JTF) has been set up. We will continue to work with the private and people sectors to give training, job assistance and counselling to those affected by economic restructuring. We will encourage employers to redesign jobs at the workplace. This will uplift the image and productivity of some industries and help such employers recruit workers by offering higher wages and better working conditions.

3. We will also prepare our workforce for jobs in new growth areas. We will revise, improve and introduce new programmes to help employers and workers meet the new demands on our workers. We will further enhance our training infrastructure. We will also continue to work with unions, employers, training providers and community organisations to nurture lifelong learning among Singaporeans. As more Singapore companies operate worldwide, we will facilitate Singaporeans to work overseas. Occupational Safety and Health

4. The well being of every working person is important and we will maintain our high standards of occupational safety and health. We will extend the coverage of the safety and health legislation to all workplaces. To establish a culture of safety and health, we will continue to provide safety and health training to all levels of personnel and promote self-regulation by the industries.

Foreign Manpower

5. There is a global competition for talent. Even as we continue to develop the abilities and skills of Singaporeans, we will intensify our efforts to attract our share of international talent to contribute to our economy, and help some of them settle down in Singapore.

6. At the same time, we will continue to pursue policies that will reduce our reliance on low-skilled foreign workers. We will also step up our management and enforcement efforts to curb illegal employment and abuses of foreign workers.

Tripartite Co-operation and Industrial Harmony

7. Changes arising from economic restructuring including the loss of old jobs and the development of new forms of employment relationships will be unsettling for our workers, and put our worker-employer relations to the test. MOM must continue to strengthen tripartite partnership between the government, employers and trade unions, to foster stronger teamwork and preserve our harmonious industrial relations climate and meet these new challenges. In particular, we will work closely with the unions and employers to ensure our employment regulations remain relevant to the workforce in the new economic environment. We need to accommodate a wider range of employment practices, including new work patterns and flexible work arrangements to promote work-life harmony of employees. Wage Flexibility

8. Adapting to rapid changes in the business environment requires a flexible wage system. The Ministry will work closely with employers and trade unions to speed up the implementation of the monthly variable component (MVC) as recommended by the National Wage Council (NWC), so that companies can adjust their monthly wage bill quickly when the need arises, to remain competitive and minimise job losses. We will also promote the adoption of performance-based pay structures over seniority-based wage system.

9. In addition, we will refine the components of our employment benefits system, including the implementation of medical co-payment and the adoption of a more rational approach in the payment of retrenchment benefits so that companies can have greater flexibility in managing their wage costs.

Social Security

10. We will review the Central Provident Fund (CPF) scheme, to ensure it provides members with adequate savings for their housing, medical and retirement needs, without undermining business cost competitiveness.