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Singapore sets out plans to weather Covid-19 storm, including tightening foreign workforce policies
SINGAPORE, Aug 27 — Three ministries and two government agencies yesterday responded to President Halimah Yacob’s opening speech for the new term of Parliament, mapping out how they intend to help Singapore weather the economic storm wrought by Covid-19 and pursue new sources of growth in this period.
The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI), the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), and the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI), as well as the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the National Research Foundation (NRF) issued their addenda to the President’s Address.
Both the MAS and NRF are statutory boards under the Prime Minister’s Office.
The addenda set out how the agencies intend to fulfil the priorities for the new parliamentary term, which Madam Halimah listed at the opening of the 14th Parliament.
Other ministries will follow suit in the coming days. On August 31, Parliament will sit to debate the President’s Address in a Motion of Thanks.
Here is a look at the top priorities at MTI, MOM, MCI, MAS and NRF as listed in their respective addenda.
Ministry of Trade and Industry
To help workers stay in jobs, the MTI pledged to “safely and sustainably” reopen the Singapore economy to keep it growing, including by expanding Covid-19 contact tracing and testing significantly to allow firms to resume safely, as well as facilitating long- and short-term business travel.
The ministry will also preserve the core capabilities for industry sectors that are currently experiencing a demand drought but will eventually recover, such as the aerospace, marine and offshore sectors.
For industries “permanently changed” by the pandemic, such as mass market tourism and social entertainment, the MTI will help these businesses reinvent and pivot.
In order to capitalise on new areas of growth, the ministry will also accelerate the innovation and digitalisation push across all industry sectors, and support new sectors such as biomedical sciences, financial services and the digital economy in a bid to invest, expand and create good jobs for Singaporeans.
Said Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing: “We are confronting this crisis from a position of strength. Our hard-won reputation for transparency, rule of law, skilled workforce and world-class connectivity are significant advantages, and will enable us to adapt to the challenging environment.”
Ministry of Manpower
Working with the National Jobs Council, the MOM will strive to open new pathways for displaced workers to return to employment. These include:
- Providing heavily subsidised training
- Supporting hiring of local workers through the Jobs Growth Incentive
- Helping employers host traineeships and attachments
- Giving greater support to employers that consider middle-aged and mature workers favourably
The newly formed Assurance, Care and Engagement Group, which have been managing the well-being of migrant workers amid the pandemic, will ensure that migrant worker accommodation is safe and resilient.
MOM is “carefully considering” a cost-sharing model for higher standards in migrant worker dormitories and will develop an insurance programme to help employers manage unexpectedly large medical expenses of migrant workers.
The ministry also pledges to further tighten foreign workforce policies, including:
- Raising the salary criteria for Employment Pass and S Pass holders
- Ensuring that employers uphold “both the letter and the spirit” of the Fair Consideration Framework
- Closely examining retrenchment exercises to ensure they are carried out fairly
- Requiring businesses to invest more effort to develop and strengthen the Singapore core
For self-employed persons, MOM will further review the responsibilities of service buyers and intermediaries to bring about a fair and balanced relationship with these contract workers.
The Progressive Wage Model, which helps uplift salaries of some lower-earning jobs, will be expanded to more industries in a practical manner that avoids local unemployment. This may require Singaporeans “to pay slightly more for services so that lower-income workers are able to take on better jobs and earn higher wages,” said Manpower Minister Josephine Teo.
She added: “Even as we stay open to the world to accelerate our recovery, the crisis makes it all the more important that employers give fair treatment to Singaporeans.”
Ministry of Communications and Information
With digital readiness and transformation imperative to help the economy move forward amid Covid-19, the MCI will help grow “local digital champions” and raise the digital capabilities of Singapore enterprises, including by providing targeted financial assistance to affected small- and medium-sized businesses through the Digital Resilience Bonus and other broader-based schemes.
The MCI will also accelerate job placements, traineeships and skills upgrading in the infocomm technology sector, for both fresh graduates and mid-career professionals.
Together with MTI, MCI will also develop an international network of Digital Economy Agreements with like-minded countries so as to help businesses access overseas growth opportunities. Talks are ongoing with South Korea.
To bridge the digital divide, the ministry will ensure that all Singaporeans, especially those from vulnerable segments of society, can have access to affordable digital services as well as the requisite digital skills and literacy needed. To this end, the National Library Board (NLB) will also roll out a five-year Libraries and Archives Plan that would map out the NLB’s shift towards serving the learning and information needs of Singaporeans.
Said Communications and Information Minister S Iswaran: “MCI will maximise Singapore’s ‘digital dividend’ by creating new jobs and driving digital innovation, and bridge the ‘digital divide’ by establishing a baseline level of digital access and skills for all.”
Monetary Authority of Singapore
The MAS will anchor Singapore’s economic and financial stability, and support Singaporeans and firms in riding out the Covid-19 crisis. It will:
- Ensure monetary stability through its monetary stance and money market operations, and avoid any disruption to the banks’ ability to extend credit to the economy
- Ensure financial stability through providing regulatory reliefs to financial institutions, while not compromising prudential standards
- Provide temporary relief to people and businesses in meeting their loan and insurance commitments, while minimising the “sharp cliff effects” when these reliefs are eventually withdrawn
- Reskill and upskill the finance sector, working with major financial institutions to ensure a solid Singapore core in their workforce, including developing a strong pipeline of Singaporeans for senior responsibilities in the sector
- Implement the Green Finance Action Plan to develop Singapore into a global centre for green finance
National Research Foundation
To create new engines of economic growth after the pandemic and support Singapore’s national and societal needs, the NRF will:
- Support research, innovation and enterprise activities, including those that capture new growth areas such as health and biomedical sciences, and sustainable urban solutions
- Scale up innovation platforms to bring research outcomes to market quickly
- Grow a strong core of Singaporean talent by encouraging careers in scientific and technology fields, via traineeships in research and development labs, tech start-ups, accelerators and incubators
- Attract overseas Singaporean scientists to return home through the Returning Singapore Scientist scheme, while also attracting global young scientists and established experts to pursue their research in Singapore through fellowship and investigatorship schemes. — TODAY
Source: https://www.malaymail.com/news/singapore/2020/08/27/singapore-sets-out-plans-to-weather-covid-19-storm-including-tightening-for/1897545