Singapore job measures puts locals first
The government of Singapore has begun enforcing measures to make companies give job applicant priority to local residents.
On Monday, the government announced that the measures now in place in the Southeast Asian city-state requires companies to advertise vacancies to local residents two weeks before they are allowed to tap the pool of workers abroad.
The notices have to be posted to a central job bank controlled by the government before the same vacancy can be advertised elsewhere. In a statement, the acting minister for the Ministry of Manpower Tan Chuan-Jin said:
"Providing better jobs and diverse opportunities to meet Singaporeans’ aspirations are the ultimate objectives of economic growth. What we are doing is to put in place measures to nudge employers to give Singaporeans -- especially our young graduates and professionals, managers and executives -- a fair chance at both job and development opportunities."
The move is likely to create a number of challenges for international firms in the region, which have already been hit by increased taxes and levies on hiring overseas and reduced permitted ratios of local-to-foreign employees.
In addition, the government has raised the minimum salary for foreign workers by ten percent. Effective from January, the new minimum salary per employee must reach $2,600 a month.
In order to defend the scheme, Tan said:
"The framework is not about 'Hire Singaporeans First,' or 'Hire Singaporeans Only.' What the government is doing is to help them get a fair opportunity. Singaporeans must still prove themselves able and competitive to take on the higher jobs that they aspire to."
Via: The New York Times
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This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com