Singapore may struggle to achieve 3% annual growth productivity

MOM’s Objectives & Priorities:

• Achieve Inclusive Growth. Help Singaporeans secure good jobs and raise skills, so as enjoy sustained increases in wages over the next 10 years. Special focus on lower-income workers

• A balanced approach to manpower policies. Help companies adjust to a tight labour market so as to keep overall share of foreigners at no higher than one-third of workforce in the long term

• Singaporeans to have ample opportunities to develop abilities and be at the core of a diverse, globally competitive workforce even as we remain open to talent from abroad

Three Key Thrusts

Push for Productivity and High Skills for Every Job in the Singapore workforce:

• Seek to achieve 2-3% annual growth productivity over the next 10 years, as basis for increased incomes for all including lower-income Singaporeans

• Help businesses to take advantage of tax incentives and the $2 billion National Productivity Fund

Promote passion for lifelong learning – Government will extend CET coverage to include all segments of workforce, improve CET quality

Foster Inclusive Growth

• MOM will take further measures to help low wage workers upgrade, secure good jobs and achieve higher incomes:
o Review of Workfare schemes and encourage companies to adopt responsible outsourcing practices

• Older workers a key focus as Singaporeans are now healthier and living longer. Retirement and Re-employment Act will be in force from January 2012
o Review the CPF contribution rates of older employees
o Improve the product features in CPF Life to ensure retirement needs are met.

Promote Harmonious, Fair and Safe Workplaces

• Renew and strengthen tripartism to address manpower challenges, including developing guidelines that promote fair merit-based opportunities for Singaporeans

• Strengthen MOM’s system of enforcement and penalties to deter abuse of rules governing employment of foreign workers, and to ensure their well-being

• Refine our Foreign Domestic Worker (FDW) policies to improve entry/recruitment of FDWs and experience of employers/FDWs

• Press on with our efforts to raise workplace safety standards and reduce our workplace fatality rate to less than 1.8 per 100,000 workers by 2018