Oct 26 2012 (Today Online)
Despite the clamour from employers, there will be no U-turn on the tightening of foreign worker inflows into Singapore, Acting Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin said yesterday. In fact, he hinted an update on the S Pass regime could be expected in the first quarter of next year.
S Pass holders are mid-level workers earning at least S$2,000 a month and statistics from the Manpower Ministry showed that the number of S-Pass holders rose from nearly 114,000 last year to about 128,000, as at June this year. For the first half of this year, the number of Employment Pass holders dipped from 175,400 to 174,700.
Mr Tan said it is likely that companies are using S Passes to bring in more junior-level professionals, managers and executives (PMEs).
"The S Pass is a sector we are not totally comfortable with, because there's a lot of transference of lower (level) Employment Pass into S Pass and we are now exploring measures to perhaps tighten that segment," he added.
http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/ED ... gn-workers
If the above cannot be pasted here, please delete it but retain the topic and the following (both of which i've paraphrased, except for his public statements made at the SME convention):
the singapore man power minister said yesterday that despite a reduction of EP workers from 175,400 to 174,700 in the first half of 2012, the number of SP workers have increased from 114,000 last year to about 128,000.
he states that despite demand, there will be no change in the government's stance on a reduction of foreign labor and that there may soon be an update to the S Pass to address that imbalance.
the minister said:
"The S Pass is a sector we are not totally comfortable with, because there's a lot of transference of lower (level) Employment Pass into S Pass and we are now exploring measures to perhaps tighten that segment..."
alternative source (if permitted) at CNA:
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/ ... 04/1/.html