Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song (Aljunied): Sir, there are approximately 186,000 craftsmen and trades workers in Singapore. Their median salary is $2,700 and their median age is 56 years. Over 70% are foreigners. The low wages, ageing workforce and heavy reliance on foreign labour in this crucial sector is concerning. I acknowledge the efforts by MOM, industry associations, unions and institutes of higher learning (IHLs) to professionalise these trades. However, attracting young Singaporeans remains a pressing challenge.
To overcome this, we need to first boost societal respect for the skilled tradesperson or tradies as they are affectionately called in Australia. Schools and trades associations can create greater public awareness about what tradies do. They are not all dirty, difficult and dangerous jobs. For example, licensed plumbers often do more supervision and inspections of plumbing works than the dirty work themselves. Young people who prefer working with their hands should be encouraged to consider skilled trades instead of forcing themselves to study an academic subject they have little interest in.
Second, we need to lower the barriers for entry for Singaporeans to become licensed tradespersons. All courses and mentorship programmes leading to licensing should be more subsidised under SkillsFuture, even for workers under 40. And more places should be set aside for Singaporeans.
Third, to raise incomes of skilled tradespersons, agencies must rigorously enforce regulations against unlicensed individuals performing tasks that are legally reserved for licensed tradespersons. This will uphold the required quality and safety standards and prevent licensed tradesperson’s earnings from being unjustly undercut by unlicensed competitors.
Sir, for avoidance of doubt, I declare that I am the director and shareholder of a company that provides technology solutions to training providers.
The Chairman: There are seven of you who raised your hands but, unfortunately, I am going to give the last clarification to Mr Gerald Giam.
Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song: Sir, I thank the Minister for sharing that the Ministry is starting to test-bed initiatives to professionalise skilled tradesperson for all trades, starting with electricians. Besides electricians, there are many other skilled trades and many of them are having an ageing workforce as well. Can I ask what is the Ministry’s timeline to uplift all the trades?
And a broader point of clarification is: is the Ministry tackling the problem of an ageing workforce, low wages, heavy reliance on foreign workers and lower interest in skilled trades among our young with sufficient urgency, or is the Ministry confident that we will continue to have a constant stream of young foreign workers to meet the manpower needs of industry?
Dr Tan See Leng: Mr Chairman, the Member’s two clarifications will take some time. I will keep the first one very short because I want to dedicate more time to the second one.
We chose electricians because it is one where we have scoped out what is required with the different agencies. We are quite confident that we can implement it with a very clear set of deliverables and there is scalability, meaning that we can extend it to more job roles, given our aspirations for sustainability and the green economy pivot to a greener future for Singapore. So, it is a short answer to the Member’s question. We will apply the same principles to some of the other trades. In time to come, I will \update Members of this House.
To the point about how we scale up our local workforce to continue to make sure that they are well-prepared and well-skilled, we will continue to invest in them .
If I may, I will tell the Member a story because I want to articulate this in a clearer fashion and connect the dots together for the Member. So, while from time to time, and at different stages, we rely on foreign workforce, the foreign workforce that comes in here is to supplement and to complement our Singapore Core. How do we walk every step with our fellow Singapore Citizens?
If you are a youth and if you have started your career, we empower you to make informed career decisions so that you have a good start. Through working closely with our IHLs, we have developed meaningful internships. We have educational and career guidance as they start out in the workforce.
Then, when you are a mid-career worker looking at next steps, we will help you to pick up and we will invest in you. We provide greater support for you to pick up releavnt skills. You have got the WSG Career Matching Services, the CareersFinder, career health and there is a whole slew of Career Conversion Programmes to help our workers; where we subsidise up to 90% of salary and course fee support. We also have the Overseas Markets Immersion Programme (OMIP). We are going to be introducing a jobseeker support scheme to empower those that are involuntarily unemployed to bounce back into employment, which the Deputy Prime Minister will announce later this year.
If you are a senior, at the end of your work-life cycle, if you want to continue to work, we are raising the retirement age. We are also have the Senior Employment Credit and the Part-Time Re-employment Grant; and we are also making sure that our Majulah Package continues to support them.
So, you can see that it is really an end-to-end, very comprehensive, integrated continuum of uplifting, supporting, strengthening and caring for our entire Singapore core. I hope that gives you that reassurance. With that, I thank Members of the House for your patience and your support.
Ministry of Manpower
4 March 2024
https://sprs.parl.gov.sg/search/#/sprs3topic?reportid=budget-2369
Office of the Leader of the Opposition 