What does cracking down on illegals has to do with Singaporean workers?!?
From ST:Oct 31, 2005
Govt to crack down on illegals but S'poreans must do the jobs.
By Ken Kwek
THE Government will do its best to discourage an over-reliance on foreign workers, including cracking down on employers who hire illegal ones.
It will also enhance the value of jobs considered 'unglamorous', provided Singaporeans are willing to change their mindsets and take up such positions.
This was the message from Mr Raymond Lim, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, and Mr Hawazi Daipi, Senior Parliamentary Secretary (Ministry of Education and Manpower), at a dialogue with more than 300 Nee Soon residents yesterday.
Nee Soon MP Ong Ah Heng and Mr Sin Boon Ann, an MP for Tampines GRC, were also on the panel fielding questions from residents after a three-hour visit to the constituency by Mr Lim.
Concern about the employment situation in Singapore dominated the discussion, with five out of over 12 questions raised touching on this.
Mr Jonathan Lim, a member of Yishun Central Residents Committee, said: 'I went to a restaurant recently where most of the waiters were from Malaysia or China. Why don't employers hire more Singaporeans?'
Panelist Oh Cheng San, chairman of Nee Soon Citizens Consultative Committee who owns a restaurant, gave the employers' point of view. He said in Mandarin: 'It's become harder to employ Singaporeans because many are unwilling to work at the weekend, which is a critical requirement in the services industry.'
For their part, Singaporeans should not be afraid of 'getting their hands a little dirty', said minister Mr Lim, who is also Second Minister for Finance and Foreign Affairs.
'No matter what level you start at, you have to get some experience at the front line, because only then will you know what customers want and how services can be improved,' he said.
He added that the Government was looking at ways to create a scale of progression in the services sector.
A national skills certification initiative to boost training in the services sector was announced last week.
'For graduates, you'll have a different entry level, perhaps start at trainee level. But the idea is that, wherever you begin, there's a scale of progression. For a waiter, you can rise to captain and maybe even start your own restaurant some day,' he said.
On helping older and less qualified workers, Mr Hawazi said that both employers and workers had a part to play to boost the job prospects of Singaporeans.
He cited the cleaning industry, in which many companies were illegally hiring Bangladeshi workers in excess of the 30 per cent quota on foreign cleaners.
'The Government will take action against such companies. But, at the same time, Singaporeans must learn to do jobs that they previously shunned or considered unglamorous,' he said.
Mr Lim also said the Government would come up with incentives to discourage employers from discriminating against older and less educated workers.
Isn’t cracking down on illegals the job of our police force? What does it has to do with Singaporean workers?!?
If only our police force can do its job properly, companies that used to hire illegal foreign workers will have no choice but to replace them with Singaporean workers. There will be no shortage of takers for these jobs if these companies are willing to pay decent wages.
All our police force has to do is to discharge their duties efficiently and diligently and the labour market will do the rest. GET IT?
posted by at82 @ 10/31/2005 06:53:00 PM
6 Comments:
Auntie... coz the govt knows that people hire illegals. and that if it makes those illegals legal, it'll raise the ire of the locals. so it knows that illegals exist but they exist BECAUSE the locals dont want to do the work.
so now they say run after the illegal workers lah.
hiyoh you ah...
Locals dun wan to do those work bcos they are paid like 350-500 per month.
Like that how to survive u tell me?
If they are paid decently, which can be achieved if the police just do their work, then I confirm got people will take the jobs.
BTW din our home minister say laws that are not enforced are white elephants? So wat is wrong with me telling the police to just do their jobs?
er, my lowest asking was 1000...
then coz i wanted a job pretty badly i even tried to offer 900.
paid decently is one thing. money come from where is another. like australia, the min wage is very high. but the govt no money...
aiyah, politics hor, like life is not logickal one... logic doesnt work, as for me lah, i dont trust logical arguments. anyhow construct also can be logical.
the police are after the coercive power of the state. so if govt is agreeable with a certain thing, then police will not do anything loh.
No need govt to come out $ leh. I not asking govt to subsidies anything leh.
I just say if the police can do their work properly and the supply of illegals is cut, the labour market will work out a new wage by itself.
precisely...
but no point wages go up when no one wants to do the work. then wages will go up further due to excess demand and low supply then prices for the services will go on inflation.
the govt controls everything because all these things are interlinked mah...
Looks like we have different views on why Singaporeans dun want to take up jobs currently being occupied by illegals.
U think tat ppl dun wan to do the work that is why employers hire illegals and in the process lowering the wages.
However my sense is that people rejected these jobs because the wages for these jobs are depressed by these illegals.
There will be unmet demand in the beginning after the police reduce the no. of illegals, making employers to increase wages level.
The new higher wages will attract locals into taking up the jobs thus making supply equal to demand again.
Of course this might lead to inflation due to higher operating cost however there is no free lunch in this world. It is something we should do to reduce the unemployment rate.
Moreover, the status of "illegals" have already been defined by their very name.
Din our govt always says that everything MUST be done according to laws? So our police should do just that, enforce the laws, period...
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