Friday, June 15, 2007

Less than half of 176,000 jobs went to foreigners in 2006

SINGAPORE: Slightly less than half of the 176,000 jobs created last year went to foreigners, said Minister of State for Manpower and Education Gan Kim Yong.

Speaking at the Symposium on Managing Labour Migration in East Asia on Wednesday morning, Mr Gan pointed out that foreign manpower constitutes 30 percent of Singapore's workforce, which means that Singapore needs foreign workers to remain globally competitive.

This is why Singapore ensures that migrant workers enjoy staying in Singapore.

Mr Gan also revealed that in a 2006 survey of Foreign Domestic Workers (FDW) in Singapore, results showed that 90 percent of them were happy working here.

The same percentage also said they were willing to continue working in Singapore with their current employers.

Mr Gan said the Manpower Ministry has a comprehensive approach to protect all foreign workers.

This includes interviewing randomly-selected FDWs who are working here for the first time, during their initial months, to help them adjust to working in Singapore.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Eberyone seems to equate "foreign workers" with high end banking jobs - and what about the thousands of Indonesian and Philipina maids, Chinese and Bangladeshi construction workers who do the real work? Singapore can afford to be so smug about its success because the people who really pay for it have no voice!