Fewer reports of job discrimination over nationality made last year
TODAY file photo
SINGAPORE — Amid efforts to ensure a level playing field for Singaporeans in the labour market, fewer complaints on nationality-related discrimination by employers were made last year.
The number of such complaints fell from 310 in 2013 to 230 last year, a decrease of 25 per cent, said Senior Minister of State for Manpower Amy Khor during the ministry’s Committee of Supply debate today (March 9), in response to a query from Chua Chu Kang GRC Member of Parliament Zaqy Mohamad.
Dr Khor was giving an update on the National Jobs Bank, which was set up as part of the Fair Consideration Framework and launched last year. Employers with businesses of 25 or more people must post job vacancies on the National Jobs Bank website for at least 14 days before applying for an Employment Pass, to ensure they consider Singaporeans fairly before turning to foreign manpower.
Some 16,000 employers and 76,000 individuals have registered with the jobs bank as of last month since its launch last year, which Dr Khor said is a positive start. On average, there are about 68,000 live job vacancies posted, of which more than 70 per cent are for professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs). About 20,000 of these positions offer a monthly salary of at least S$5,000.
While the Government is committed to help every Singaporean, Dr Khor said the jobs bank and the framework “cannot and should not be evaluated in isolation”. “Rather they are part of a broader labour market ecosystem, which has produced health employment outcomes for Singaporeans,” she added.
This ecosystem includes an education and training system that ensures Singaporeans are well-equipped to take up quality jobs created by the economy.
Noting that Singaporeans have benefitted from the ecosystem, Dr Khor pointed out that the annual average citizen unemployment rate last year remains low at 2.9 per cent, while the real median income among full-time employed citizens grew by 2.1 per cent per annum over the last five years.
Since the launch, the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) has taken into account feedback from the public, job seekers and employers and made the jobs bank portal more user-friendly, and the authorities will continue to make improvements, she added.
On Mr Patrick Tay’s (Nee Soon GRC) suggestion of requiring employers to publish the salaries of their job postings on the National Jobs Bank, Dr Khor said the Government has to weigh the pros and cons. “Many employers tend to prefer holding back such information for competitive and internal confidentiality reasons,” she said.
