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SINGAPORE - Addressing concerns brought up by Government leaders in recent days over his wage reform proposal - including the implications of productivity growth being outpaced by wage increases - former National Wages Council chairman Lim Chong Yah clarified his position yesterday: His proposal is premised on low-wage workers in Singapore being "underpaid by much more than 100 per cent of their pay when compared with their counterparts in countries with comparable national affluence like Hong Kong, Japan or Australia".
The "gross underpayment", said Professor Lim in a letter to the media, is "consequent on the unlimited influx of cheap foreign labour to Singapore".
He added that his assumption that such workers are paid 100 per cent less than their productivity contribution is "an underestimation" - even if their pay increases 50 per cent over three years, they would still be paid 50 per cent at the end of the restructuring, he said.
At a public lecture last week, Prof Lim had proposed that those earning below S$1,500 a month have their pay increased by 50 per cent over three years, while wages of those earning S$15,000 or more should be frozen.
His proposal drew responses from labour chief Lim Swee Say and Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew, among others.
Prof Lim reiterated yesterday that low-wage workers should be paid "according to their productivity contribution", or "at least a larger portion of their real productivity contribution".
He also questioned Singapore's traditional fiscal solution to low-wage workers, which included Government subsidies, transfers and hand-outs.
Such an approach would entail higher taxes - thus eroding competitiveness as companies and professionals seek to settle elsewhere - and more worryingly, the development of a "dependency syndrome" among the low-income group on the Government for their well-being, he said.
Hence, an integral part of his proposal is the training and re-training of Singapore workers to enhance their occupational mobility, said Prof Lim.
- http://www.todayonline.com/Singapor...ow-wage-workers-here-underpaid--Lim-Chong-Yah
The "gross underpayment", said Professor Lim in a letter to the media, is "consequent on the unlimited influx of cheap foreign labour to Singapore".
He added that his assumption that such workers are paid 100 per cent less than their productivity contribution is "an underestimation" - even if their pay increases 50 per cent over three years, they would still be paid 50 per cent at the end of the restructuring, he said.
At a public lecture last week, Prof Lim had proposed that those earning below S$1,500 a month have their pay increased by 50 per cent over three years, while wages of those earning S$15,000 or more should be frozen.
His proposal drew responses from labour chief Lim Swee Say and Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew, among others.
Prof Lim reiterated yesterday that low-wage workers should be paid "according to their productivity contribution", or "at least a larger portion of their real productivity contribution".
He also questioned Singapore's traditional fiscal solution to low-wage workers, which included Government subsidies, transfers and hand-outs.
Such an approach would entail higher taxes - thus eroding competitiveness as companies and professionals seek to settle elsewhere - and more worryingly, the development of a "dependency syndrome" among the low-income group on the Government for their well-being, he said.
Hence, an integral part of his proposal is the training and re-training of Singapore workers to enhance their occupational mobility, said Prof Lim.
- http://www.todayonline.com/Singapor...ow-wage-workers-here-underpaid--Lim-Chong-Yah
