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We've got a black hawk down..... black hawk down...
Growth will leave no one behind: Tharman
Fri, Mar 05, 2010
my paper
By Esther Au Yong
SINGAPORE is investing in a new phase of growth and transformation outlined in Budget 2010, said Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam yesterday.
If everyone plays his part, no one will be left behind, he said, responding to points raised by 50 MPs over almost three days, wrapping up the Budget debate.
He said the Government is committing significant resources to help Singapore workers gain better skills, jobs and incomes.
This includes measures to help the lower-income group, like the enhanced Workfare Income Supplement and the new Workfare Training Scheme.
Mr Tharman rebutted opposition MP Low Thia Khiang's (Hougang) claim that the Government had depressed wages of lower-income citizens by letting in more foreign workers.
Said Mr Tharman: "By allowing the economy to grow rapidly in the second half of the (last) decade, we were able to bring unemployment down and grow the incomes of Singaporeans."
The unemployment rate for residents fell from 6 per cent in 2003 to 2.4 per cent by end- 2007.
Median income grew by 20 per cent over the decade, after adjustment for inflation. That of low-income households grew by 7 per cent over the decade.
The improvements would have been impossible if businesses were unable to hire more foreign workers, but Singapore cannot continue to rely on foreign labour alone to grow, he said.
So the Government is increasing foreign-worker levies, such that "the higher a company's dependency on foreign workers, the higher the levy rate and the bigger the levy bill it will have to bear", Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong said earlier yesterday.
He rejected Mr Low's idea of using the dependency ratio alone to regulate foreign-worker numbers, as that would hamper certain industries heavily dependent on these workers.
He said: "The aim of the levy changes is to motivate companies to increase their productivity and deliver higher value-added products and services with fewer foreign workers.
"The increase in levies alone will not necessarily lead to productivity improvements if companies merely replace foreign workers with locals and employ the same number of workers."
Yesterday, Parliament resolved itself into a Committee of Supply (COS) to discuss the amounts allocated to each ministry for the next financial year.
Growth will leave no one behind: Tharman
Fri, Mar 05, 2010
my paper
By Esther Au Yong
SINGAPORE is investing in a new phase of growth and transformation outlined in Budget 2010, said Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam yesterday.
If everyone plays his part, no one will be left behind, he said, responding to points raised by 50 MPs over almost three days, wrapping up the Budget debate.
He said the Government is committing significant resources to help Singapore workers gain better skills, jobs and incomes.
This includes measures to help the lower-income group, like the enhanced Workfare Income Supplement and the new Workfare Training Scheme.
Mr Tharman rebutted opposition MP Low Thia Khiang's (Hougang) claim that the Government had depressed wages of lower-income citizens by letting in more foreign workers.
Said Mr Tharman: "By allowing the economy to grow rapidly in the second half of the (last) decade, we were able to bring unemployment down and grow the incomes of Singaporeans."
The unemployment rate for residents fell from 6 per cent in 2003 to 2.4 per cent by end- 2007.
Median income grew by 20 per cent over the decade, after adjustment for inflation. That of low-income households grew by 7 per cent over the decade.
The improvements would have been impossible if businesses were unable to hire more foreign workers, but Singapore cannot continue to rely on foreign labour alone to grow, he said.
So the Government is increasing foreign-worker levies, such that "the higher a company's dependency on foreign workers, the higher the levy rate and the bigger the levy bill it will have to bear", Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong said earlier yesterday.
He rejected Mr Low's idea of using the dependency ratio alone to regulate foreign-worker numbers, as that would hamper certain industries heavily dependent on these workers.
He said: "The aim of the levy changes is to motivate companies to increase their productivity and deliver higher value-added products and services with fewer foreign workers.
"The increase in levies alone will not necessarily lead to productivity improvements if companies merely replace foreign workers with locals and employ the same number of workers."
Yesterday, Parliament resolved itself into a Committee of Supply (COS) to discuss the amounts allocated to each ministry for the next financial year.
Oh yes.. it was here...
