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Tharman: Foreign workers up local pay

makapaaa

Alfrescian (Inf)
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Coffeeshop Chit Chat - Tharman: Foreign workers up local pay </TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right>
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Subscribe </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class=msgtable cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="96%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=msg vAlign=top><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgbfr1 width="1%"></TD><TD><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR class=msghead vAlign=top><TD class=msgF width="1%" noWrap align=right>From: </TD><TD class=msgFname width="68%" noWrap>teh_si <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgDate width="30%" noWrap align=right>Mar-4 3:40 am </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT height=20 width="1%" noWrap align=right>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname width="68%" noWrap>ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right>(1 of 10) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft rowSpan=4 width="1%"></TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>29547.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt>Mar 4, 2010
BUDGET DEBATE 2010
___________Foreign workers up local pay[/size]

<!-- by line -->By Melissa Pang
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<!-- Audio --><!-- Video --><!-- PDF -->SPEECH BY MR THARMAN SHANMUGARATNAM, MINISTER FOR FINANCE, AT BUDGET 2010 DEBATE


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'Bringing in foreign workers allowed businesses to seize opportunities, accept orders and grow, and to create more jobs for Singaporeans,' said Mr Tharman. -- ST PHOTO: SAMUEL HE
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SINGAPORE cannot do away with foreign workers as they are crucial to the development of its infrastructure and service sector.
Winding up the three-day debate on the 2010 Budget Statement in Parliament on Thursday, Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam highlighted the vital role played by this group of workers.
'If we had not brought them in, we would not have been able to ease the supply bottlenecks in the private property markets, build HDB flats, or expand our MRT network.' He added that essential services would also be affected, with hospitals and nursing homes facing a shortage of nurses and caregivers, 'even with good pay being offered to attract Singaporeans'.
The rise in Singaporeans' incomes in the last decade would not have been possible if businesses had been prevented from expanding quickly in the second of the decade, and their growth would have been choked off it they had not been able to get more foreign workers, he said.
'Bringing in foreign workers allowed businesses to seize opportunities, accept orders and grow, and to create more jobs for Singaporeans,' said Mr Tharman.
Rebutting criticism that the influx of foreign workers had reduced wages for lower income Singaporeans, Mr Tharman pointed out that the healthy growth of wages for low wage families from 2006 to 2008 corresponded with the period when the foreign workforce was growing most rapidly.
'It was how we were able to offset the decline in wages for our lower-income group that had taken place in the first part of the decade.'
But Mr Tharman cautioned that growing dependence on foreign workers is not a sustainable strategy in the long term, as this "will reduce the incentive for employers to upgrade their operations and raise productivity'.
'We will also run up against the social and physical limits that an ever-increasing proportion of foreigners in our workforce would bring,' he warned.

<HR SIZE=1>Edited 3/4/2010 6:43 am by teh_si</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

The FAPee traitors are massaging figures again. Find out the truth here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24zEOkWT6Oc
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