SINGAPORE'S jobless rate is at a new low, but labour chief Lim Swee Say is not resting easy. What keeps him preoccupied are these two words: unanswered joblessness.
Coined by global finance chiefs at a recent World Bank meeting, the phrase is a grim reminder of a world with no answer to the long queues at local employment offices.
Singapore has found its answer for its people, said Mr Lim, the anchor minister for the five-man People's Action Party's (PAP) East Coast GRC team who is also facing his first electoral contest.
But the challenge is to get Singaporeans to realise this. Why so? Because at the heart of the solution is one word many in Singapore do not take kindly to: foreigners.
They play a crucial role in Singapore's success formula, said Mr Lim, as he elaborates on the country's approach of boosting residents' skills and filling the gaps in the workforce with foreigners.
While he vows the Government will 'keep managing' the foreign inflow, he is going all out to convince Singaporeans of the harsh reality of a globalised world.
Countries are competing to woo investments. Singapore has a small market and labour force, and foreigners do help to 'create those jobs we have by beating other possible investment locations', he said.
So, while opposition parties may promise Singaporeans they can get better jobs and higher salaries in a world of less competition, Mr Lim insisted that no such world exists.
He said: 'With the PAP, we would rather tell Singaporeans the truth... that there is no such world.
'The world we are preparing Singaporeans for is where there are better- paying jobs, more good jobs and pay, but an even more competitive world.
'So, instead of hoping to do better in a less competitive world, we should think about how can we be more competitive in in a world of better jobs and better wages.'
He added: 'Take that as my key message.'
Citing the newly opened US$3 billion (S$3.7 million) IM Flash wafer fab facility in Woodlands, he noted that Singaporeans and permanent residents take up two-thirds of the managerial and professional positions.
Foreigners take up two-thirds of the production and operator jobs.
'If we had deprived investors of hiring one-third PMETs (professionals, managers, executives and technicians) and two-third operators, what would happen to this project? Are we in a position to tell investors, take it or leave it?' asked Mr Lim.
He hopes to use such logic and illustrations to appeal to Singaporean voters, including those in East Coast GRC.
A Straits Times team last August found that more than one-third of 100 residents interviewed cited some dissatisfaction with the Government's handling of national issues such as transport costs and blue-collar wages.
Mr Lim, who did not face any contest in three previous elections, took over the reins from retiring Deputy Prime Minister S. Jayakumar a month ago.
His rivals are expected to be from the Workers' Party which, in the 2006 election, got its second-highest score for a GRC (36.1 per cent of the votes) at East Coast.
But he is not losing sleep over his newness in the GRC because he believes he has a strong team, and 'Prof Jayakumar has taken tremendously good care of Bedok, and I am not caught in a situation where I have to fight fires', he said.
'Things are progressing well,' he added, citing ongoing lift upgrading programmes and schemes to spruce up flats and town centres.
Of his team - made up of Transport Minister Raymond Lim, Minister of State (Trade and Industry and Manpower) Lee Yi Shyan, Senior Parliamentary Secretary (National Development) Mohamad Maliki Osman and incumbent MP Jessica Tan - Mr Lim said: 'We are ready.
'I do want to continue what I have done in the past 15 years. There is still a lot more I want to do... to upgrade skills, jobs and productivity to help prepare Singapore as we go through a future with even more ups and downs.'
Coined by global finance chiefs at a recent World Bank meeting, the phrase is a grim reminder of a world with no answer to the long queues at local employment offices.
Singapore has found its answer for its people, said Mr Lim, the anchor minister for the five-man People's Action Party's (PAP) East Coast GRC team who is also facing his first electoral contest.
But the challenge is to get Singaporeans to realise this. Why so? Because at the heart of the solution is one word many in Singapore do not take kindly to: foreigners.
They play a crucial role in Singapore's success formula, said Mr Lim, as he elaborates on the country's approach of boosting residents' skills and filling the gaps in the workforce with foreigners.
While he vows the Government will 'keep managing' the foreign inflow, he is going all out to convince Singaporeans of the harsh reality of a globalised world.
Countries are competing to woo investments. Singapore has a small market and labour force, and foreigners do help to 'create those jobs we have by beating other possible investment locations', he said.
So, while opposition parties may promise Singaporeans they can get better jobs and higher salaries in a world of less competition, Mr Lim insisted that no such world exists.
He said: 'With the PAP, we would rather tell Singaporeans the truth... that there is no such world.
'The world we are preparing Singaporeans for is where there are better- paying jobs, more good jobs and pay, but an even more competitive world.
'So, instead of hoping to do better in a less competitive world, we should think about how can we be more competitive in in a world of better jobs and better wages.'
He added: 'Take that as my key message.'
Citing the newly opened US$3 billion (S$3.7 million) IM Flash wafer fab facility in Woodlands, he noted that Singaporeans and permanent residents take up two-thirds of the managerial and professional positions.
Foreigners take up two-thirds of the production and operator jobs.
'If we had deprived investors of hiring one-third PMETs (professionals, managers, executives and technicians) and two-third operators, what would happen to this project? Are we in a position to tell investors, take it or leave it?' asked Mr Lim.
He hopes to use such logic and illustrations to appeal to Singaporean voters, including those in East Coast GRC.
A Straits Times team last August found that more than one-third of 100 residents interviewed cited some dissatisfaction with the Government's handling of national issues such as transport costs and blue-collar wages.
Mr Lim, who did not face any contest in three previous elections, took over the reins from retiring Deputy Prime Minister S. Jayakumar a month ago.
His rivals are expected to be from the Workers' Party which, in the 2006 election, got its second-highest score for a GRC (36.1 per cent of the votes) at East Coast.
But he is not losing sleep over his newness in the GRC because he believes he has a strong team, and 'Prof Jayakumar has taken tremendously good care of Bedok, and I am not caught in a situation where I have to fight fires', he said.
'Things are progressing well,' he added, citing ongoing lift upgrading programmes and schemes to spruce up flats and town centres.
Of his team - made up of Transport Minister Raymond Lim, Minister of State (Trade and Industry and Manpower) Lee Yi Shyan, Senior Parliamentary Secretary (National Development) Mohamad Maliki Osman and incumbent MP Jessica Tan - Mr Lim said: 'We are ready.
'I do want to continue what I have done in the past 15 years. There is still a lot more I want to do... to upgrade skills, jobs and productivity to help prepare Singapore as we go through a future with even more ups and downs.'
