Speaking in his private capacity at an Institute of Policy Studies seminar at the Shangri-la hotel, Member of Parliament Inderjit Singh suggested that a minimum wage might lessen the burden on lower income groups whose wages have been depressed by cheap foreign labour.
TOC will have a full report later today.
transferring foreign worker’s levy to sg workers to ensure minimum wages is a good idea.
now the ball is in the govt’s court to provide sufficient data to prove that this is NOT a good idea. in other words, the govt shld release detailed information as to where these levies have gone to.
or has the levies gone into a fund for long term investment – much like GIC, TLC and town councils?
Ahem~
I don’t see the reason I need to reply to such commenters, but..
Okay, so let’s take it that none of us are economists, so who are we to comment on this system then? When I said that JBJ was no economist, I meant that he wasn’t in the government’s position, nor was he a reputable economist. A minimum wage system isn’t what can be implemented in a day or two, like what many of you seem to think.
All of you want a minimum wage system I suppose?
Alright, want to make a bet? When this minimum wage system is implemented, fully imitated from other countries, who wants to wager that job creations will decrease as companies cut down on their workforce? That is, if the minimum wage is beyond the financial levels of the company.
You all can continuously argue, but that just makes it worse. When I see all your arguments above, they all seem more so directed personally to me, without any substance. This is what you all want?
I thought the moderator would have moderated me I did that. What happened now? Don’t worry, I won’t stoop down the levels of those baseless accusers and reciprocate the insults.
Why bother? My example was a simple illustration. Whether it’s good or bad does not matter.
Wage controls isn’t fit for Singapore. It eradicates wage competition and brings down salaries in order for companies to enjoy maximum profit.
Populists.
You all can keep fighting, but so far, I see none of you responding to the very first post I sent down here. Instead of rebutting the points I made, all of you question my intentions personally. You see this?
Hahaha~
#52)
How would transferring of the levies that MOM collects from the foreign workers and passing it to the Singapore worker reduce job creation? I believe it will only encourage more workers to take up such low paying jobs.
Employers still have to pay the levy irregardless of what MOM does with the money. So how will job creation be affected unless it is due to economic circumstances? Since employers love foreign talent so much, they more they bring in, the better it would be for the Singapore worker if the levy is credited to him.
In fact what was the purpose of implementing the levy in the first place by our elites? Can anyone help remind me?
Or is it our elites are unwilling to part with the monies they have amassed (or lost)?
Why talk about minimum wage how about maximum wages.?
When there is no competitions at whatever levels there is nothing to talk about!
Let market forces decide but with some control!
At minimum level, we competite with foreigners!
At the maximum level, there is only monopoly of one party and they used whatever laws to protect themselves.
We are no better than the rest of the worlds yet still call no1 , if you all still in the dream lands is too bad.
Scholaristic China created fools that ruin fedual China, lucky they realised 30yrs ago. Learn from the west, join parttnership with the west and copy their technologies to create Gobal Enterprises. We need to unlearned and relearn from China.
what does minimum wage really mean? how many min wages are there? 1 for each kind of job or just 1 for all kinds of jobs?
ministers, perm secs and other ruling elites oso got minimum wages what. why not ordinary singaporeans too?
oh i forgot. we are lesser mortals, that’s why.
Regarding the million dollar salaries (annual) of our elites,
I am against their pay cut.
the reason is the same given for their salaries.
Think about it, if they cut their salaries, will they leave?
will they do other thingies?
will it defeat the purpose of preventing corruption being one of the reasons for their highest pays?
i wonder like the lemon tree….
so my point is …..
the current salaries of them
should remain status quo
and be the min wage of them.
no cut. good good .
no corrupt.
For some people, their view is that in order to retain companies here, it is best to keep wages low so that they can employ more.
But you know, I am dealing with HR, it is true that having min wage may reduce job creation, but if the people that i get for this job is not motivated and committed, then there is no point in having too many staff. that’s why in most company now, they are reducing quantity of stuff and trying to replace it with high quality staff. and it has been tested and proven through part of Toyota High performance work system that paying more for performance is much better that saying the money to employ more workers.
Overseas Singaporean is right to say minimum wage is PAP’s bogeyman. Let’s use some common sense to see seriously where minimum wage will actually hit in the labour market: construction workers, fast food restaurant workers, coffeeshop employees, etc. Do you think minimum wage will actually have any impact on the professional sectors’ salaries?
This is good. Especially to the lower income families. Haha I grew up in one of them. So long got no such thing as unemployment checks, that’d be fine.
Lily Neo and Inderjit Singh are two of our more capable, more caring MPs who have not lost touch with the common folk. BTW, even Batam has a minimum wage.
Panther wrote:
“Wage controls isn’t fit for Singapore. It eradicates wage competition and brings down salaries in order for companies to enjoy maximum profit.”
Conservative!!!
W/out minimum wages and the constant influx of forigners, it seems wages are getting lower. With prices of stuffs getting more expensive, how can a Sgporean worker (esp low-income workers) survive in this country which offer barely any social welfare and protection to its citizens?
How do you know it will eradicate wage competition? maybe it will or maybe it will be a blessing in disquise.
society doesnt progess if citizens and politicians doesnt try to achieve a idea that may seemingly be impossible and to a certain extent, they haf to challenge the staus quo that seems ‘rusty’ and unable to hold the current foundations of society against all forms of ‘weather conditions’.
Inderjit Singh is caring???? Wasn’t he the one who backstabbed James Gomez in the last election?