Li Bihui
It seems to be only fair that if two people are doing the same kind of work in the same institution, that they should be receive equal remuneration. Yet it is common in Singapore for employers to offer housing allowances only to foreign employees. It is also common that moving allowances for new employees returning from overseas are offered only if the new employees are non-Singaporeans. These discriminatory provisions in effect pay foreigners more than Singaporeans even if both hold jobs of the same rank. An internet search uncovers the following recruitment ads that explicitly state that foreign employees are eligible for housing or moving allowances or subsidies without mentioning similar allowances for Singaporeans.
At the Asia Research Institute:
“A monthly housing allowance for expatriate staff who do not own properties in Singapore to subsidise the cost of property rental in Singapore.”
In addition to this discriminatory provision:
“Travel assistance will be provided for non-Singaporeans who are recruited from overseas. Singaporeans and Singapore Permanent Residents who are returning home from abroad will be provided with travel assistance if they have been residing overseas for more than three years.”
In other words, if you are a Singapore citizen or PR who has been residing overseas for two years, you will get no financial assistance whatsoever to move back to work at ARI. If you are a foreigner, you get financial assistance no matter how long you have been overseas.
Similarly, the National University of Singapore mentions:
“For expatriate staff, a housing allowance may also be payable.”
Likewise, the Institute for High Performance Computing:
“For expatriate staff, the following benefits are available: Housing allowances, Education allowances, Relocation allowances.”
At the Nanyang Technological University:
“International faculty will also enjoy subsidized housing in a 500-acre residential campus environment, on-campus childcare centre, and children’s educational allowances for Singapore’s acclaimed international schools.”
Correspondingly, at the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering:
“For expatriate staff, IMRE also provides other benefits including housing allowance, settling-in allowance, passage assistance, etc.”
Again, note that even the passage assistance and settling-in allowance seem to be explicitly available only for expatriates. Returning Singaporeans are not mentioned.
Another case is shown at the Institute of Microelectronics:
“For expatriate staff, IME also provides other benefits including housing allowance, settling-in allowance, passage assistance, etc.”
Interestingly, the wording is exactly the same as that for IMRE. Is this perhaps an A*Star-wide policy?
Lastly, at the Institute for Molecular and Cell Biology:
“A competitive gross starting salary is offered plus a housing subsidy for expatriates.”
These are merely the instances I have been able to find online where the policy is explicitly stated, so it underestimates the actual number of cases of such discrimination.
It should be obvious why moving allowances should be given, if at all, to all employees moving from overseas. It should not make a difference how long the employee has been living overseas — an air ticket costs the same whether the employee has been overseas for one year or three years! Neither should the employee’s citizenship make a difference — a Singaporean living overseas is going to incur the same moving costs as a foreigner living overseas.
The housing issue is trickier. Some argue that locals should not be given a housing allowance as they are eligible for HDB subsidies, which are out-of-bounds to foreigners. This is a bad argument.
Firstly, the rationale behind the HDB subsidy is that it is a privilege reserved for Singaporeans — after all, the money for the subsidy comes from the tax revenues of the Singapore government. If foreigners are to be compensated for not having this privilege, then it is not clear how the subsidy remains a privilege of citizenship. If anything, many locals, such as those who are not interested in buying public housing, would rather have the housing allowance than the HDB subsidy.
Secondly, the inequitable dishing out of housing allowances is unfair to those who cannot or do not want to buy HDB flats. Most people cannot afford to buy a HDB flat when they first start working. This means that until they have enough savings to buy a HDB flat, they have to pay fully for their own housing, while foreigners in similar positions get a free ride all the way.
In response to this, some argue that locals could just stay with their parents. But this does not resolve the issue of inequity. With the housing allowance, foreigners are free to rent a room for themselves in a desirable neighborhood close to work, while locals whose parents stay far away from the workplace are forced into a long daily commute and, if their childhood home is small, sometimes even forced to share rooms with other family members.
It is not at all equal treatment to in effect tell locals that they must either 1) rent a place at their own expense or 2) stay in a crowded, often faraway family home, while subsidising foreigners for housing in more desirable locations. In addition, locals who are single are not eligible for the subsidy for new flats, so once again they are restricted to either paying rent out of their own pockets or living with their parents.
Meanwhile, single foreigners have their rent subsidized. The argument from HDB subsidies would be good if it was in fact the case that Singaporeans can and want to buy HDB flats from the day they start work, or before they start work. But it is almost never the case that they can do so, even if they want to. There are plenty of Singaporeans who would prefer to rent rather than buy a HDB flat, but their rent goes unsubsidized while foreigners’ rent is.
The unfairness aside, these discriminatory policies cause needless bitterness and resentment among Singaporean workers. It is doubtful whether the resentment created, and the consequent lowered productivity, is really worth the savings to the employers of underpaying their Singaporean workers relative to their foreign workers.
just wanna drop in a few comments on some of the posts made
1) Voting in the opposition is not going to solve all the problems, more likely than not, it will only create more problems. This is not to say that the PAP should rule unopposed but i’m just saying that there is a lack of a better alternative at present time. (As much as I love Chee Soon Juan, i somehow rather see Lee Hsien Loong at the helm)
2) The whole notion about providing housing allowances is to provide a financial resolution (or security net) for workers who want to work in a foreign country, but are worried that they cannot afford to purchase or rent a new house. (i’d rather take a lower paying job in Singapore than go overseas for a higher paying job where i have to buy everything again (house car etc. blah) Singapore provides housing subsidies, loans, infra-structures and etc for locals to utilize. To expect employers to still offer housing allowance will 1) place further strain on local company’s resources, 2) question the validity and necessity of the HDB subsidies!
3) The first line of the article already seems to miss the point. A local employee and a foreign employee are not ‘equals’, they are two different workers coming from different contexts/backgrounds . Most Locals already have housing, friends and networks already established in Singapore(not to mention the chance for subsidies), while foreigners are entering a totally different environment and have different needs. If the whole article is built upon the premise of these two workers being equal then it needs to reconsider this. They are only equal if you see them in pure economic terms (as units of labor), which is, ironically what the same people criticize Singapore for doing too much (only thinking economically)
4) relocation benefits in Singapore? WHy are you even mentioning relocation benefits, which exist in countries many many times bigger than Singapore? Should i relocate from Bedok to Queenstown because i want to work there? If you are an employer, would you pay your worker allowances for such a move? Should the ‘equality’ of the allowance be taken at face value (He gets it , i don’t so i am oppressed) or should we, as many comments have asked, ‘think critically’?
5) in the same post where the author said that ‘Singaporeans are treated worse than foreigners, he also goes on to mention CPF and Maternity leave..
6) I am also a firm believer that Singaporeans should receive more work benefits, esp in comparison to foreigners, and that the PAP has gone too far in their quest for FTs. But i just believe many arguments here are barking up the wrong tree…
49) Jackson on October 22nd, 2009 11.10 am “National service is no longer a commitment to the defence of Singapore, but rather just ananother law to abide to. ”
What is the basis for your conviction?
Of course any individual can simply not care about the defence of Singapore, not a huge suprise but to say that the whole concept of national service being only relevant as a law rather than serving a real purpose for defence is an indication of how narrow minded our people have become. You think you are being pragmatic, realistic, jaded, seen it all but believe me you don’t even know what your are talking about.
We can have maids to clean up our homes and raise our kids, foreign workers to build our flats and clean our streets but who the hell is going to defend your home? It is a very simple logic, don’t have to go to a local Uni or even score a good L1R5 to learn that. People, it is not only your responsibility,it is our goddam right!
51) dX on October 22nd, 2009 12.20 pm
Don’t agree with everything in your post (number1 left a pretty sour taste)
but points 2,3,4 and 5 made alot more sense than most of what was written above. Safe to say the people who ‘bark up the wrong tree’ the loudest are prob people who have not and most likely never will experience what it is like to work overseas. Good one!
@45) True Patriot Down South on October 21st, 2009 5.40 pm
I really hope TOC or some other site will do a topic on NS so I can properly comment. This is off topic. Suffice to say the following…
1. We need an armed force. Yes. We need to have national service? Not necessary.
2. Which do you think is a better armed force : one that is professional and voluntary or one that is conscripted and unwilling?
3. Three words : voluntary national service. Let those who want, volunteer to serve in the army. They will then get the due reward and recognise but is “part-time” like what voluntary police is now.
4. In a war, numbers and technology alone do not win a battle. Strategy, tactics, morale, logistic and planning does. See Battle of Singapore where the British lost despite having more than twice the number of soldiers than the Japanese.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_singapore
Still convinced we need a mass number of men to serve NS?
Some historical context.
When Singapore first wanted to have an armed forces, they asked for help to form one. The British for some reason did not help. Neither did the major western powers. Singapore was facing a possible war with Indonesia as part of the Malaysian alliance.
Out came Israel who volunteered to help build our military force. As you know Israel itself was threatened its existing by Arab neighbours. Of course they will be high strung and treat NS as their national survival. Hence they teach us the same siege mentality which they have till this day.
But we’re different. Yes we are surrounded by a grand total of TWO muslim nations. But these two nations don’t want to wipe us from the face of the map and kill all the Chinese and Indians. We’re now a conglomerate of nations consisting of many races and many religion.
So why carry the siege mentality of our Israeli teachers till this day?
National Conscription (I would not even call it National Service) is not needed. A professional armed forces will suffice. I am sure with a smaller resource pool, military organisation will work better to maximise their limited resource, not when there are a lot of cheap NS boys and men to waste.
51) dX on October 22nd, 2009 12.20 pm
[[just wanna drop in a few comments on some of the posts made
1) Voting in the opposition is not going to solve all the problems, more likely than not, it will only create more problems. This is not to say that the PAP should rule unopposed but i’m just saying that there is a lack of a better alternative at present time. (As much as I love Chee Soon Juan, i somehow rather see Lee Hsien Loong at the helm)]]
On what basis do you say that?
Voting in opposition creates a 2 party system. With that we will have check and balances and no single party can have hegemony over parliament and rubber stamp laws. Any ruling government who make bad policy or falter will have the opposition to check on it to ensure it does not. (e.g. bad policies like too many foreigners, bad investment in temasek etc…)
If LHL, performs, by all means, be the PM. But if he does not perform, he should be removed by PAP itself and PAP has to elect a new PM. If PAP chose not to, then it is not fit to be the ruling government and the opposition should be the new government (this scenario is not likely without a proper two party system yet)
53) True Patriot Down South on October 22nd, 2009 12.41 pm
[[Safe to say the people who ‘bark up the wrong tree’ the loudest are prob people who have not and most likely never will experience what it is like to work overseas.]]
On what basis do you say that? :)
I have personally worked half my working life in the US and I can tell you as a foreigner there, I can feel priority still goes to citizens and then PR. And I do not fault them. The US government goes out all its way to protect its citizen even if the citizen do not deserve such protection (as in the example of Michael Fay)
In fact, it made me feel that this country treasures its citizens. This is more than I can say about our own Singapore.
CPF is one of the biggest expense for employers in SinKapore employing local citizens. The gahment must do something about it to level the playing field otherwaise more and more SinKaporean will migrant and the country will eventually flooded with new immigrants. Is that what the PAP regime want? The hidden cost may not be obvious now but the bills will come in later. Typical short term solution for a long term problem. The low birth rate was a consequence of previous gahment policies and it is time for the PAP regime to come clean and put right their mistakes instead of compunding it for future generation. Housing is a good issue to start with. Many young couples delayed starting a family because they were waiting to own a house to call home.The cost of housing is major issue and since all HDB housing is gahment owned they could easily do something about it. The conclusion one could draw from existing PAP’s policies is they do not regard such issues as a priority. It is our duty as a SinKaporean to change and highlight such issues and make it a national priority. The only tool we have is the one vote we have which I would strongly called upon all SinKaporean to use it wisely for the good of the country.
refering to most singapore companies and agencies.
most of companies like security agencies and cleaner companies and more.. are treating singaporeans like a fool. thye under paid singaporeans. they delay the payment of salaries. they do not keep up with thier words as for what they had said during interviews. this companies assume that they go by the book and speak up to you..but when the time comes this companies has so many reasons on not paying you for what you had work for. most of the cases are singaporeans made to work extra hours and not being paid for it. their reasons are..,if foreign can take that why not singaporeans? government start to say singaporeans are too choosy on job.
ok can we say this. let LKY work and earn $500 and run his entire family? just enough for him and his entire family to eat porrigde everday! would that be ok? is that we call future success?while foreigners are enjoying with beer sessions and seafood dinner and back home they buy land after land and build their empire. is this singaporeans future?
VOTE PAP OUT!! this people are not what we singaporeans need. 50years of ripping us apart and dipping too deep in our pockets of our daily need deeper and deeper is enough! stop it now or never.
56) btan on October 22nd, 2009 3.38 pm
Glad to hear a comment from your own exp. 1st of all please note that dx was referring only to some comments and so was I, as a matter of fact I agree, It is true many other countries do take care of (or at least appear to) their citizens alot more tangiblly than our govt does. But I do wonder if we can really fault a private company for offering perks if they can afford it?
I’m confused really. If we were to say that we are being under cut by cheap labour willling to work more hours for less well then fine I can understand the frustration if you face direct competition but if a company (who I believe at the end of the day still focuses on profit more than anything) feels the need to shell out for ‘imported talent ‘at a premium price then perhaps they have a good reason (or too much money?). But yet some of you claim that they do that because due to CPF and all that we singaporeans cost more to hire??
Some claim that Singapore employers pay FTs to much meaning to say we get less pay.
Some claim that employers save on CPF by hiring FTs meaning to say we get more pay then?
So which is which?
54) btan on October 22nd, 2009 3.05 pm
I agree that this topic don’t belong here so I will keep it short.
Note that I said previously: “Yes many aspects of NS needs to be changed and we can jolly well do with a shorter lenght of service etc”
I can tell you that the NS system is full of problems btan but really, look around you, look at singapore, how many of us are going to join the armed forces on a voluntary basis? Be realistic. Ok lets assume that you pay really really well.
Is money everything? What about lifestyle? Will enough people want a regimented career? What we need is NS with more incentives, more enrichment programs and educational opportunities, less service time ( 6months would be more than enough) and a hell lot less wayang.
its seems obvious that CPF contributions, National Service & maybe even having children (let’s not forget that birthrates contribution to our nation’s survival) all add up to make employment rather imbalanced.
policies that play up those imbalance cannot take a half-hearted attempt or it will all go to waste. alot has been said about sinking roots to stem the brain drain of our local educated workforce, but either too little has been done so far or people in-charge are not doing it right.
It is blatantly obvious that NS is now a tool to keep male citizens in check. At an age where men are the most hot-blooded and prone to idealistic commitments, they are made to march in step, obey orders, and keep their head down to avoid being ‘arrowed’.
Will many people join the SAF if it’s a volunteer army? I think yes, if the SAF is revamped into a real army and not the deadwood paradise it is now. If it’s a kind of army very active in UN peacekeeping, and dedicated to the martial spirit, many men will join for a ‘higher calling’ like why americans serve their army with pride.
And then there is another alternative, first mooted in Starship Troopers (the book): people are born as PRs, not citizens. If they want to become citizens with much better benefits, they volunteer for NS. Otherwise it is fine and they remain PRs with limited benefits.
Another point on Israel: let us not forget that the entire Israeli economy and society supports their NS. Employers still hire citizens first and make all allowances for NS, families are committed to NS. Even Israelis born overseas may go back to serve NS by choice.
Why is that possible? They are a single race, motivated by preventing another holocaust. Their military leaders know how to lead: they charge ahead of their men, and are promoted based on results in real wars. So their generals are truly real warriors. Men accept and follow them.
@61) True Patriot Down South on October 22nd, 2009 8.54 pm
[[how many of us are going to join the armed forces on a voluntary basis? Be realistic.]]
How many are going to join the police force on a voluntary basis?
Your question is a moot point. The key point is VOLUNTARY. They can try to promote it, give more incentive like you said, as long as it is voluntary NS, the QUALITY of soldiers we have will be 10,000 times better than the FORCED CONSCRIPTION of NS soldiers we have now, simply because these people will be more dedicated. One man willing to fight for his country is better than 10 unwilling conscripts.
Regular soldiers + voluntary part time national servicemen should be enough for peace time defenses. As mentioned earlier, we are not Israel and we don’t need that high level of alert of citizen soldiers who are mainly sedentary salary men and won’t last long in a prolonged conflict anyway.
And should there be a prolonged conflict, it is still not too late to train up existing able men to be fighting fit. It takes about 3 to 6 months to train up a civilian to become a soldier, less if we are efficient about it.
And if really war comes to Singapore, it won’t be just able men but able women also have to be part of defense (either as front line or back line support). And it does not matter if you are citizen, PR or foreigner. If you choose to stay in Singapore, you jolly well take care of our defense or else you can get the hell out of the way.
65) btan on October 23rd, 2009 2.03 pm
“And it does not matter if you are citizen, PR or foreigner. If you choose to stay in Singapore, you jolly well take care of our defense or else you can get the hell out of the way. ”
The rest of your comments aside I support this statement 100%.
Its just that sometimes people are just cynical about our need for defense like as if its not their concern, to me thats bull. So good point there.
We obviously have a huge gap in ideology regarding NS so let me just say that you have brought up some interesting points that I will take as food for thought.
Having said that I too hope that there will be a day when we can have an army 100% committed, made up of people wholehearted in the defense of their land.
How we do something can be argued, till then, I feel we can all agree on one thing: Nothing is more important than protecting our home.
tell you what, many employers have rejected me before just because I have NS liabilities. it sucks.
and NS is the real reason why employers HATE singaporean males.
foreigners pay more taxes and levy than singaporeans and siingaporeans should be thankful to foreigners? oh really??
singaporeans:
1) pay high income tax
2) pay high property tax
3)pay high gst
4)pay high town counsil
5)pay high SP bills
6)pay high transportation fare
7)pay high medical fee
singaporeans are force to accept lower paid jobs
so this is what basically singaporeans are paying for the rest of their life and with low income how do you expect singaporeans to have even a small amount of savings for the future to retire old age?
or is there a retire for us singaporeans? we don’t see that yet.
the pap and the goverment have made a way that singaporeans are to earn within the limit as not to allow us to have savings and our saving is in the hand of the goverment and it is up to them if they wish to give it to us or to pocket in the own banks.
with low income and no savings..singaporeans are merely a slave working harder and harder each day to survive and what we earn are basically not ours, we only see the digits of our pay but do we really own it? NO!!
this is to contain singaporeans in this country as not to allowed any of us lower income earn to flee the country. the goverment knows well what it would be is one singaporeans were to give enough money and savings.., resulting them not wanting to live in singapore and flee away. why is this so? ask the goverment!!
so this is why poor singaporeans have no choice but to accept the indirectly of human slavery and torture and to let us live in pain despite knowing that we are suffering they simply doesn’t care as all this long in their mind is….WHICH SINGAPOREANS DARE TO VOICE UP?? the answer is NONE!!
vote after vote singaporeans blindly give in and hoping the goverment will pity and the old folks and the child to help them come up in live and feel the life they dreaming to live in. but the goverment simply do not have this time for us singaporeans
all their concern is:
you work you pay us
you sick you pay us
you want a house a place of shelter you pay us
you want help? sorry goverment has no money for us singaporeans
this is what will happen if singaporeans keep voting for them and they think we fear them
singaporeans think opposition will make our life more worst.
so are our life now any good? NO!!
as lky says..look at singapore now..yes singapore is beautiful!! with casino,F1 track, hotels,lots and lots of tourist attractions,lots and lots of entertainment for tourist
and what is singaporeans citizen getting out of all this? nothing. we have to keep sweating out daily to support and give the goverment the money they need to make more of this to attract tourist, foreigner working here and to give them support and welcome them with an open heart and help them even to land here with a high paying jobs and living in luxuries properties.
we singaporeans are carrying their loads.
ukrain in the ns?well…why not put the whole china national ,indian ,vietnamese ,japanese, korean and more.. into our army? must as well call in osama bin laden to join our army too as things would be easy for singapore to be destroy in any country finger tips. is this what we call defending our country?
STUPID LEE KUAN YEW!! you are exposing our country to disaster and open our country and selling piace by piece to foreign landing here. is this the promise you made for us singaporeans to vote you for the past 50years??!!
WE WILL VOTE YOU OUT THIS TIME AND WOULD NOT CONSIDER OVER YOUR GOODIES BAGS!!
59)singaporeans
“refering to most singapore companies and agencies…
security agencies and cleaning companies are treating singaporean like fools…underpay singaporean….delay payments…extra hours”
Seems like you have the experience as a cleaner or sookoority guard before ah?.Care to share your experience?
You never heard of singapore guard asking or demanding that their companies let them work 24 hours so that they can work in the day and sleep in the night ,getting a double salary as his family need more income etc..?The poor towkay have to give in becos he is short of manpower and also wanted to help as he understand that his salary is not enough . One day when the guard misbehave badly ,when told to resign,complain to MOM that it is the towkay who force him into doing OT..
Do you know how many contract workers has ask their employers not to deduct and contribute their CPF and later complain to CPF that their employer did not contribute CPF resulting in their failure to enjoy the workfare?
Pay them immediately after work and be a good employer and see how the AWOL?..
Do you know that sookoority guard can AWOL as and when they like so often that the towkay often have to stand in as a guard,some continuously 72 hours or more?Will MOM prosecute the employee for making their employer work more than 24 hours?
Compare a Singaporean to a Foreign worker,it is not just only because of the dollars and cents…We all know how productive we are……
Propose a few things every month and you get paid a high salary! The current system is such that only if you have a degree or some PhD, are you entitled to draw high salaries (5 figure every month not including bonus) in governmental or biotechnological jobs – even if it means you sit behind a pretty desk and do nothing except pick a few calls, and wait for the next meeting. To these people, they think “Where got SLAVE NATION?”
I am just wondering whether the education is even equal to quality of work shown. Something is really wrong! Reality is stranger than fiction!
security agencies are becoming like PAP blood sucking vampire. they make you work but they pay you less and mostly they won’t give you pay right
74)all Singaporeans
“security agencies are becoming like PAP blood sucking vampire.”
Interesting,then why are you working for them?Or are you going to tell me that you are not a guard now?Or it is a hearsay?I am interested to learn how they suck?Care to share ?
This is the sad reality of a typical singaporeans. There is no proper system to adminster the problems we are all facing. Look at our NS: assoicated or related to someone, you get to enjoy many benefits while serving NS. Look at our recruitment and hiring process – hire based on who you know and not based on skills and abilities. Look at those incompetent HR practioners and Senior Managers who do not have the capabilities to lead yet they want to manage people. Come on let’s face the reality, this is Asian, with an asian mindset, don’t expect anything to change.
If the talent, skill, initiative, experience, and educational backgrounds needed by local companies existed in the local populace, then local companies wouldn’t need to hire expats. But that facts are that your country is small and can’t contain every skill, talent, educational background, and experience needed to be all that Singapore is and wants to become.
It’s pure market supply and demand. You don’t supply it locally, so the companies have to get it elsewhere at a higher cost. Singapore is 45% more expensive than my home town, so if companies need the talent, they’ve got to at least make an offer that keeps the prospective employee on par with where they were financially back home. That includes considering housing, cost of food, transportation, etc., all of which are more expensive in Singapore than the countries where expats come from — US, Australia, UK, etc.
So stop expending your energy complaining (one talent that Singapore has enough of!) and spend your time improving your education, job experience, service, initiative, creativity, and drive! Singaporeans want everything to be equal and fair; while you are wasting your time whining about that, other people are improving their talents/skills and leaving you in the dust.
Ask yourselves these questions : Why do companies pay foreign employees more than Singaporean employees? Why do companies prefer to employ foreign talents instead of Singaporean workers? Mind you, many of these are top companies and GLCs of reputable brands! Are management of these top-rate companies mad and without common sense?
You see, all businesses have to make profits. They need productivity, sales growth, lower cost of operation and employees who are both talented and hungry to perform. Do you find these qualities in Singaporean workers and professionals? Even local Singapore companies and the GLCs prefer not to employ their own citizens is a strong fact that speaks for itself!
Till this day, if Singaporeans are still unable to discover the causes to their own problems and choose to put the blame on foreign talents and the PAP Government, God helps Singapore! This island is sinking!
//My Views
yeah the country is sinking and it has to do with the government policies.
You go look up why. The reasons are all on this site.
//Why do companies prefer to employ foreign talents instead of Singaporean workers?
Really? I know of many branded companies who paid high salaries to Singaporeans to work overseas.
your Deputy PM Teo mentioned that in one of his speeches 2 to 3 years ago.
The answer to your question from me would be: your companies just want to get cheap labor without any concern about productivity. That is why, productivity went down for 15 years whereas other countries (tiger economies like Taiwan and HK, SKorea) went up.
Go check your facts, sick views.
Check your facts first.
//My views
As an add on, the low productivity is one of the reasons why these companies cannot expand overseas successful.
Point out one GLC who does it successfully? I give you 2 that failed.
Reading some of these comments just reinforced my belief that many Singaporeans are short sighted, irrational and blindly echoing each others’ sentiments.
Sure, go ahead and vote for change for change! go ahead and criticize policies (Stop at Two) that are relevant then but are obviously irrelevant now. I thought a basic education in History/Social Studies is prescribed in our Ed. System! I sooo bet that you guys can predict the future just like what Nostradamus did. This is an irony if its not obvious.
Also, if i’m an expatriate with a valuable and much sought-after skill set, what would be my opp. costs for working in a foreign country? Put it this way. Singapore needs more of people like me to drive her growth in the biotech and financial services sector, but unfortunately there are tons of other cities like Hong Kong, S.Korea, Boston, London to compete with. So How? How to ensure that my current and future needs are provided for? Why Singapore? Do you even know that a Ph.D post-doctoral candidate from Kyoto University working as a Research Fellow in NUS is paid about $3.5k per month only? Study a total of 23-25 years and you start out with a starting pay just 500-1000 more than local Bachelors?
In fact, if I was an expatriate i wouldnt even consider the above perks. The above is considered tiny compared to what some companies like GSK and Barclays pay its employees with allowances and entertainment claims here and there not incl. seasonal bonuses and performance bonuses. Furthermore, NS liabilities only come into question when our men decide to work for overseas employers. Locally, if you are good, first-class honours with summa-cum laude to boot, so what if you have NS liabilities. Sure get good job lor!
Give the People an effective measure to improve our global marketability and competitiveness, cope with the rise of China, cope with a declining birth rate and marriage age, cope with OS braindrain, all without having a more relaxed FT policy. Mind you, in Singapore, although our personal income levels are not high, our average household income is more than $5000 monthly. Tell me that’s not enough to cope with daily expenses. In fact, anyone who earn a taxable income (>$20,000 p.a.) stands at the top 43% of native Singaporeans and top 28% of Resident Singaporeans incl. foreigners.
So, for all who say that foreigners depress wages, check your facts. In fact, 81% of foreigners earn less than the min. taxable income of $20,000.
In fact, the poor are being taken care off, and the rich can take care of themselves. Our problem now is the sandwiched middle class, which are no longer able to afford a wider selection of goods due to a stagnation of wages, but has to cope with a higher cost of living. These people are the middle classes. What is critical in moving up the social ladder is hard work, hard work and hard work. Everyone is gifted with a basic intelligence level to study and understand what others are saying. The difference is whether people use it galvanizing their teens/early twenties away or spend it fruitfully at books/studying so as to reap the rewards later.
In fact, credible leadership is so important that Senior Management often ask people telling them what to do ‘who are you and why are you telling me what to do?’. Especially so if he/she graduated from an elite school overseas. That is why high performers are identified early and locked by the PSC before the opportunities are fully open to them during networking sessions organised by their Universities.
Change for the sake of change is worthless. The most important thing now is to come up with a critical analysis of the current issue at hand while coming up with policies that clearly identify potential stakeholders while being feasible enough for the government to implement. If you think that the government cant, can you?
Criticizing the government or anybody for that matter is worthless, useless, and valueless. It is not what someone with knowledge or passion or determination will do. The knowledgeable will analyse, the passionate will lead or serve, and the determined will contribute in any way that he can.
Criticisms should be done in a constructive manner, where if alternatives cannot be found, at least a more in-depth analysis of the issue at hand be accomplished. If both fail, all attempts at further discourse are not meaningful save further polarizing different parties at stake.
I don’t like how the PAP communicates with the general public, but I certainly appreciate the development of Singapore over the years, despite me being in my early twenties. I see how policies in different countries have evolved over the years responding to different environmental and social pressure. For instance, compare Finland to Singapore. Finland has everything Singapore wants. But can Singapore ever be Finland? No, we cant. For a simple reason, our cultures are different.
Put the local Ah Beng in a CEO position. Even if the Ah Beng has earned a few million dollars, would the ex-Ah Beng be willing to trade his position as CEO for a cleaner who earns a pittance? He wouldn’t. The Finnish would.
Following Singapore’s cultural development and our need to continuously attract and retain foreign talent, our Personal Income Tax cannot be as high as Finland’s where locals pay up to 50% of their income on Tax for their system. It is a Proportional Tax System (Check the IRAS webby) but it is much lesser than what other countries tax their rich. Our only asset in this tiny island is Manpower. We need to utilize the most out of every citizen. For a country of just 4 million, we have created man-made economic miracles. In fact, the ITEs are equipped with facilities rivaling that of many overseas universities in order to prepare them for the working world.
Yes the UK has Cambridge and Oxford, but they also have throngs of homeless people and their nation is burdened with a unsustainable welfare system and an ineffective bureaucracy (much worse than Sg I assure you.)
So no matter how much I don’t like how the PAP does some of its policies, I ask myself, am I able to think of a better solution, or come up with a better analysis of the issue to derive a better solution? Often, the answer is ‘no’. In the few instances that I think I did, I discuss with my peers and end up discussing it with relevant authorities. I don’t rant. This is one of the few instances that I do, out of sheer desperation.
So before you criticize, do consider the issue from various facets before blindly criticizing. At least give insightful inputs or constructive suggestions. It appalls me to no end that to think that the level of political and socio-economic discourse in Singapore is so one-sided and biased from any kind of academic perspective. Btw, I still think CPF is a great idea seeing that 401(k)s proves to be disastrous.
typo. gallivanting not galvanising. lol.
Expat2Singapore: “So stop expending your energy complaining (one talent that Singapore has enough of!)”
Not a fair statement. I was active till a few years back in American and British-based forums where there is a lot of socio-political discussions on topics from A-Z. And naturally, the discussions often verge on the critical towards the powers-that-be. I don’t ever call them complaint kings or whiners. Why is that when the average Singaporeans are silent, they are called drones/government dogs and when they speak out on issues, they are whiners? If I agree with you that we are whiners, then you have to agree that you are whining against the whiners, while I whine against the whiner who is against whining. Fair?
TOC provides a platform for discussion on socio-political issues. This is a social issue.
I would’ve stopped at the first 2 paragraphs, since you’ve made good arguments. The “hardship fee” included within an expatriate package and market value, are some of which I would agree on to an extent. Though it all unravels with your “pull-your-bootstraps” & “you are the problem” argument in the 3rd paragraph. Typical conservative counter-arguments against anyone with a semblance of “liberal” critique that all is not well with (insert-your-society-here).
—–
There is a problem in Singapore and institutionalising and fetishizing of the foreign, and the foreign=talent equation is one (and I’m in no means a xenophobe). I mean, the TOEFL/English teacher phenomena in Japan comes to mind. How many of those English teachers in Japan are just kids fresh out of college wanting travel experiences? I know a few.
I recognise the irony for example, of how Aussie creatives are in demand in Singapore and and the industry initially passed off a Singaporean who had a Australian degree – who could only initially compete based on cut-throat salary. That Singaporean friend of mine could work for an Australian company but chose to stay for family reasons. And a bigger paycheck and better remunerations, given that the Aussie govt makes it easier for those with an Aussie degree to work there regardless of nationality (talk about talent retention/siphoning).
Another friend who is also a graduate, gets housing allowance in Australia. And that is not unheard of as a local term of hire. I have an American friend who gets housing allowance, all for working within the same state (PA) within 10 km of his previous apartment. Note: he’s not a college grad but has climbed up to supervisory position. One sure way to a brain-drain is to throw meritocracy rule out of throw – squeeze the locals, spend on foreigners for doing the same job. And when you’re bereft of local talents (screw you, Singapore, we’re going abroad), you import in foreigners. And so goes the cycle. The powers-that-be complain that there are no talents in Singapore, which is kind of true, since their policies drove most who could go away… away. Unlike in other developed countries that do their best to retain their talent, ours seems specifically set-up to drive our own away. From employment to housing policies. We don’t have minimum wage for example and discriminatory hiring practices isn’t against the law, it’s just against some Ministry of Manpower “guideline”. It’s not because we are a “whiny” lot, really.
I agree there are specialist field where we lack the local expertise for it. But for it to happen across the board in almost every industry I can think of – I don’t think so.
To PollocksPaintDrip: You are right, I shouldn’t have said “whining.” Apologies. AND, I agree with your comment about the policies here driving local talent away.
To Sleepless Night: Thanks for a well thought out reply.
sorry for the paragraphing and grammatical errors. i was too tired and its my 1st time posting.
i graduated recently and found myself competing for a job with foreigners who have been in Singapore for less than 2 weeks. I lost the job to some of these foreigners and found myself slapped with a fine for failing to do my RT although I am unemployed and am busy searching for a job … It makes me wonder why I went through that 2.5 years of army when foreigners at my age are already getting their Master Degrees ….. arrrr ….
the bottom line is why are Singaporean Males …. especially the ones who have given their full reservist cycle to this country are at the greatest disadvantage when it comes to employment ….
Yes foreigners at their early 20s are priming for masters, except for Israelis, Taiwanese, Koreans, Germans, Finns, Thais and 20 more other countries in the developed world.
The foreigners you are talking about probably come from PRC, the US, the UK and some of our neighbours. In fact, many men of our generation are conscripted for national defense of their own country.
Being a grad, you should know that Singapore nowadays are flooded with grads and in order to distinguish yourself to the employer, you either:
1. have a shining cv so it doesnt belong to the waste paper basket.
2.Shine during your internship/industrial attachment days so you are guaranteed a job upon graduation.
3. Grad with 2nd upper and above for your degree.
4. Go for higher education.
5. Possess specialised skills (such as Medicine/Dentistry/Pharmacy/Accountancy) or you have relatives in the industry that can ‘look after’ you.
Otherwise, you will belong to the rest of the normal people who will have to fight each other for a job opening.
Welcome to the working world.
Expat2Singapore, no problem. Apology appreciated/accepted. We do tend to agree more than we “whine” (I kid! hah.)
Enjoy your work/stay in Singapore.
Don’t blame the employers…It’s the government that allow such a policy to discriminate Singaporeans that voted them in in the first place.
Yes jobs for foreigners …NS for singaporeans.
You can only blame yourself for being Daft to vote them in…
Now it’s time to be Daft to vote in more opposition….
some of the posts here are hilarious, especially the one that rambles away trying to defend PAP’s growth-at-all-costs policies.
pray, how many of the 1,500,000 foreigners in Singapore belong to the category that “tons of other cities like Hong Kong, S.Korea, Boston, London” would compete for?
i din know that the last time I stepped into a hawker center/visited a GP clinic/bought junkie fast-food/took a stroll in the Chinese Gardens, i was served by these special highly-sought-after “talents”…
have a conscience, VOTE PROTEST
Sleepless night : “…and its my 1st time posting.”
please post more and help fight Apathy.
Your effort is important for all of us.
Thanks!
//Sleepless night.
What a joke!
As if the policies of LHL and MBT are rational?
They have resulted at least in many many people not having enough for retirement and homeless.
In a democracy why should we support policies that failed?
I don’t see a point of collecting ever increasing amount of fee for this and that social purpose, when the huge funds don’t produce a return higher than the cost of capital.
Mind as well, we keep the monies ourselves and manage it ourselves.
After all, we are one of the most highly qualified people in the world or most highly educated people of the world.
If the Taiwanese can have more monies for retirement and higher disposable income, why can’t we?
Being sleepless over such things is silly.
If you want the govt to win votes, tell them to do their work properly. Don’t try to con like using stolen sand.
@ Sleepless night
“So no matter how much I don’t like how the PAP does some of its policies, I ask myself, am I able to think of a better solution, or come up with a better analysis of the issue to derive a better solution? Often, the answer is ‘no’.”
Fine, your answer is ‘no’. And your master also got no answer. Then why the bloody pay so bloody high?
Indeed, I agree that many of TOC’s articles often contain misplaced anger and resentment. The rental subsidies or inconvenience benefits paid to certain higher level expatriates is really not the issue. A few of the issues that some of the posters have brought up are definitely more legitimate than the article we are commenting on. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing since it’s still discourse of some sort.
I feel that the employment market is biased. Yes, I’ve heard from many of my more academically gifted friends that getting employed is about having an extra X-Factor in the 21st century. A degree on it’s own doesn’t really cut it and yes, if you’re a trained doctor, lawyer, accountant or any other major professional, you would find it slighly easier to land a job.
What’s wrong with Singapore’s employment market then? This a small summary of what many of us are already angry about.
1. The NS-Reservist Handicap (for men)
We need to compete fairly with other job hunters. Being a Singaporean male, this is already tilted against us. Most of us are fine with having to exercise regularly for reservist and IPPT but when an employer disciminates against us (very often subtly) over a foreigner or PR or even a woman, this tilts the balance. If you consider the educational handicap that 2 years of service brings, the balance tilts further. If a male is also of a minority race in Singapore and doesn’t speak Mandarin, it get’s more than a little annoying.
2. Salary Equity
More qualified folk with more experience get more pay. This is a given. But why are many foreign entry level executives paid so much less than Singaporeans? Why are they allowed this when Singaporeans already have CPF contributions which are anything but unsubstantial. My best guess would be that this keeps salaries a lower for a little longer. So while the article I am replying to may be arguing the opposite (that expats get MORE money with all the little subsidies and inconvenience benefits), I think the problem still lies with cheaper alternatives. The Government is obviously to blame for this. And if they still insist that meritocracy is at play when employing foreigners, they should remove the huge cost that CPF contributions adds to an employer’s expense (as A Tan
Oct 20, 2009 7:54 illustrated). Allowing foreigners to fill those positions should come with a levy that is equivalent to the CPF contributions of a Singaporean in the same position, and not just a $50 token fee. This is meritocracy. Tying a boxer’s hand behind his back and asking him why he didn’t train harder isn’t. It’s just cruel.
3. A Minimum Wage
There are obviously many pros and cons to a minimum wage system. Yes, it affects flexibility on the labour curve. But, without it, more inequity results. Employers simply take advantage of cheap labour because they can. The salary at McDonalds has increased over the years, but it is still a pittance. I think that having a minimum wage of 4 to 5 dollars and hour, adjusted for inflation yearly, will reduce a lot of resentment among service staff and other blue collar workers. The minimum wage would allow every working person in Singapore to have enough money at the end of every hour to buy a decent meal for him/herself. This is not too much. Why shouldn’t a janitor be able to buy his entire family of 4 a good meal with just half a day’s work, instead of having to slog for 2 days with the salaries paid by some employers today? What is he to eat the other half of the month? Criticisms of the minimum wage have been varied, mainly revolving around how much of a burden raising it yearly would be. Shouldn’t more expensive food (due to annual inflation) be met with more money? If this is unreasonable, I really have no clue what is.
Singapore’s government has done a good job building this country. We acknowledge that. It is a marvel in many ways. What isn’t so marvellous though is how self-serving many policies have been of late. The economy isn’s everything.
To avoid waiting for moderation, I will post in 3 parts. just to clarify, I have my uni exams coming up thats why i was sleepless. I am interested in Public Policy as a whole but not to such an extent so as to lose my sleep.
Anyway, here are some basic statistics i complied in my free time which should be relevant in my reply, relevant as of 31 Dec 2009. Residents = Singaporeans and PRs. Employment = 15 years and above and actively looking for economic employment.
1. Non-residents/Residents as a % of total workforce of 3 million people = 35% and 65% respectively.
2. Of the employed workforce, Residents with min-taxable ann. income of $20,000 stands at 43% whereas Non-Residents stand at 3%. In other words, 57% of Residents earn less than min-Taxable Income and 97% of Non-Residents earn less than min-Taxable Income (prob transient labour).
3. Among Residents earning min. taxable income of $20,000, 33% earns an annual income of $20,001 – $40,000; 48% earns an annual income of $40,001 – $100,000; 19% earns more than $100,000 per year.
4. In contrast, among Non-Residents, 81% earns less than $20,000 in annual income; 10% earns annual income of $20,001 – $40,000; 6% earns annual income of $40,001 – $100,000; and only 3% earns more than $100,000 per year.
After all these statistics, here is a conclusion of the condition of the Singapore workforce.
1. Most low-paying jobs are held by transient labour comprising mainly of Non-Residents earning non-taxable income of <$20,000. In fact, out of 1,192,200 Employed non-residents, only 32, 219 are eligible for income tax. In other words, 1,053,500 low-paying jobs such as labourers and coffee shop cleaners and toilet cleaners are filled by these transient labour holding Work Permits. This allows for higher-paying jobs to be filled by Singaporeans. Read up on Keynesian Economics if you don’t understand.
2. Singaporeans and PRs, in contrast, hold a higher proportion of higher-paying jobs, with 43% of them holding jobs that pay above $20,000 p.a – a total of 833,211 people.
3. This leaves the Singaporeans and PRs holding low-paying jobs. At 57% of the Employed workforce, they stand at 1,113,086.
4. Does that mean they are poor and needy? No. Often, these individuals come from a normal dual-parent family nucleus with double the bread for the household.
5. So what is the problem? Is the situation as dire as what some want us to believe? No. Why? I am not prepared to write a full-length 5,000-20,000 word essay on it, but attend grassroots activities and you will understand. Often, individuals have no one but themselves to blame for the predicament that they find themselves in.
Here is a simple analogy: I often ask my fellow undergrads to join activities and be more active on the social and political scene in Singapore through forums and volunteering activities. Better still, I try to rope people in for competitions and seminars and the typical answer they have is ‘Oh that’s too boring.’ ‘Huh, so chim, don’t want lah’ ‘So scary’ ‘I’d rather go for hall dance sessions’
So what happened was one day we had to compete with each other for overseas exchange opportunities and internships through a rigid and stringent process. Surprise surprise, I had an overwhelming amount of choices to choose from, but some of my nonchalant friends had trickle-me-downs from rejects by much more outstanding undergrads. So, they complain, complain and complain. They get unhappy when they see my resume in comparison to theirs. Whose fault is it? Just to clarify, I am not a nerd. I just know what my priorities are.
Similarly, many Singaporeans default on their HDB loans of just 2.6% interest because of poor financial planning. If a couple living in a 4-room earns $40,000 in annual income, after deducting for CPF contributions, they will be left with approx $1,300 for their monthly expenses. After using CPF for HDB-loan-repayment (about $600), they will be left to pay approx 100-300 depending on the area that they stay in. That leaves about $1,000 to $1,200 for monthly expenses. After controlling for food and misc expenses, they will have about $500-800 left for savings – If they do not possess a car, do not have a lifestyle disproportionate to their income level, do not have expensive weddings and renovations and no outstanding installments.
Now we have established that poor financial planning might be one of the reasons why Singaporeans find themselves unable to pay their arrears. Does that mean its their fault? Rightly so. Should this continue? Absolutely not. So what should follow will be them seeking help from the Government through NGOs and Meet-the-People sessions. If you have an Income Statement and if you have the relevant documents to illustrate your case, I can guarantee you the MP will work things out with HDB to smooth out the arrears over longer years.
Yes, I may not have the answer to the problems, but I do not presume to be smarter or cleverer than our Oxbridge and Ivy-schooled Ministers. Likewise, they do not presume to have all the answers too. That’s why policies are liable to change just as the environment and social pressures change. I do scrutinize some of the policies that are closer to me in life and when I do find something I can contribute, I voice out.
And no, you joke. The Taiwanese do not have more monies for retirement and higher disposable income. Try living in Taipei or Gao-Hsiung. I presume either you made that statement out of ignorance or conveniently withholding the fact that you can retire to the suburban/countryside for a lower cost of living.
Wake up. This is Singapore. No countryside for you to retire to no matter how much you like Country music and the Wild West style of life. Again, you resort to personal attacks whenever you run out of things to say. Finally as I said earlier, as much as I don’t like some of the PAP’s policies, I tend to think that the policies are they best they have for us. Why?
1. I’d rather they have a high pay without extra claims here and there unlike UK Ministers who have entertainment tabs etc etc. That’s all they are paid. Fullstop. Now, they should do their job.
2. They are the best our education system has to offer. Who else do you think can do a better job if many people (local and overseas) can’t even beat them at simple studying? Maybe you can.
3. I do not claim to justify the Ministerial pay, but this is what I think. How else do you think you can attract local talents to join the civil service to serve? Passion for the country? Sorry this isn’t a Red State. You need something more practical and concrete. You think you deserve the pay? Join the civil service as one of its Administrative Officers – If you can. Complaining will get you nowhere. Many of my scholar friends prefer to join the private sector instead of the civil service. Why? They earn MUCH more than in the private sector than in the civil service for the same effort put in. No need to declare investments, no need to declare spouse’s interests etc.
4. Put the current opposition in place of the PAP and you will (maybe) see a redistribution of the reserves (maybe S&P will protest, maybe they wont. Just downgrade.) and international CEOs asking the opposition ‘Where did you graduate from? This is what I think and you are wrong. I came from MIT and I had 1st class honours.’
5. Policies never fail. Policies that fail are policies such as the 1970s Nixon-Shock that ended Bretton-Woods at that time as well as China’s Cultural Revolution.(GLF had its merits)
6. It’s a question of whether you can do better than the current portfolio of ministers and their panel of academic and industrial experts. I don’t think I can frequently outsmart my professor. You think you can? Go ahead and try.
7. There is a culture difference between Singapore and other nations. Try as I might, I will never be able to get people not to swear, not to speak Dialect/Chinese/Malay/Hindi-laced English not to complain. But I expect people of our generation to understand that what matters in this age now is hard work, hard work and hard work. Read up on the Polgar sisters for inspiration. Kept me studying for hours after that.
8. Lastly, I support the Minimum wage system as long as it is implemented with extensive means testing and elasticity testing. I think the Singapore labour force is well-prepared as it is more robust as compared to previous years.
allow me to stray off track and share with you, as a management staff of my company.
i have more headaches with own fellow singaporean staff. having being lenient, i have tolerated what i can. not from the reservist. not because of salary too high. not because of age.
it is because of working attitude.
i know this will irk some here but honestly, sometimes, i simple cannot take their attitude. my own fellow citizens.
first, before even showing significant contribution to the company, started asking for higher pay. i know salary is an issue. however, no results but want rewards is not reasonable.
second. i am looking for people who can work, contribute, willing to be humble and learn. not going around with flashy cars, telling how experienced they are etc.
third. i really do not know what those i have recruited learn in school.
fourthly, with long sleeve shirt and tie under the sun for 30 minutes is like asking them for their life! ok. we allow them to fold up their sleeves but some even requested for their tie to be taken off when my boss is in his coat with our foreign customer.
i am a singaporean and yes, i will help my fellow citizens. but please show the right attitude, the right aptitude.
every time i submit my request to employ someone,my boss will always ask ‘singaporean? how long do you expect him to stay?’
sad to say, out of 12 that i have employed, 10 are locals and 2 foreigners, the foreigners have not left and are doing exactly what we wanted.
but the other 10? well, i have changed one round of all 10, some have left just 1 week on the job – reasons: too hot (in hanger for 2 to 3 hours and it is sheltered), too low pay (mind you. i am paying locals 2.4k for 2 yrs experience), too far (i need not say more). and these are SOME of the reasons they gave during exit interview. my god. i just cannot believe it.
and, we give locals 5 day work week whereas my 2 foreigners alternate sat off! and for reservist, the company offers 2 additional day off. FOC!
as a recruiter myself, i have more or less, loss confidence in hiring locals.
so tell me, locals or foreigners? the company needs people to work to function, it is either foreigners or we move out completely.
Some musings.. If you go through life and do the motions required of you in this system, it’s not enough. Don’t just be exam smart, for e.g, go learn a creative skill, work in a unique place, go intern at a Fortune 500 firm, head off the beaten path, and you will realise that you can contribute more, and are in greater demand than the average graduate with nothing but a 2nd upper honours and zilch life experience that doesn’t bring value to the corporate world today, except a typical rat-race life.
Market yourself, think of ways to stand out, to show you can juggle multiple disciplines and are a flexible employee.
i agree with you.
but, the problem is. many wanna take a shortcut without even using their head. complain, number 1. compare, number 1.
Hello I’m a graduate and always get a salary of about 1.2k. I could not manage to stay long, as those employers didn’t want longterm work, that was in 2009 Very bad year for me, so I was either part time or unemployed. At present, the company that hired me i have friends inside, i think they would agree to my range.
But the accounts said cannot, got to be base of 1.2 that i have no experience.
Doesn’t 5 months experience count??!
Yea a top honors grad does not necessarily have experience, i agree as i am just a normal grad.
Seems like many people here are angry about some issue or other…. chill.
COmpared to china, we’re better off. I heard some china people say back home, everythingmust be fought for. Or they will suffer a lot. That’s why they migrate. I am not sure about cpf but it will ensure we have enough for next time lah. Hope somebody will reply me.