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May 19, 2010
Wrong to blame foreign workers for stealing jobs
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I REFER to Mr Murali Sharma's Forum Online letter, "Firms should take cue from Han's" (May 6), and would like to give my take from the hiring experience of my brother-in-law's F&B business.
My brother-in-law is able to operate his two foodcourts daily without much manpower disruption because he has a few foreign workers who are willing to do menial jobs.
Most local workers hired to do such jobs are not likely to possess the same positive working attitudes.
The public's disquiet over employers preferring to hire foreigners over Singaporeans because the former are cheaper is a misplaced conception. This is because there are hidden costs such as worker's levy, food and lodging, medical and insurance fees which employers will have to bear. When such hidden costs are added up, the total can be close or equivalent to the salary of a local worker.
Foreign workers keep our estates clean, tend to our sick, get us around in our public transport system, build our HDB flats, and do the dirty jobs in our shipyards, docks, container ports and so on. If we did not have them to take up jobs in these sectors, how would we be able to achieve world-class status for our health and transport systems, public housing, hospitals and port?
Finally, unskilled or low-skilled foreign workers do not take jobs away from Singaporeans. How can the jobs be snatched away when they are jobs that Singaporeans have shunned in the first place?
Priscilla Poh (Ms)
Wrong to blame foreign workers for stealing jobs
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I REFER to Mr Murali Sharma's Forum Online letter, "Firms should take cue from Han's" (May 6), and would like to give my take from the hiring experience of my brother-in-law's F&B business.
My brother-in-law is able to operate his two foodcourts daily without much manpower disruption because he has a few foreign workers who are willing to do menial jobs.
Most local workers hired to do such jobs are not likely to possess the same positive working attitudes.
The public's disquiet over employers preferring to hire foreigners over Singaporeans because the former are cheaper is a misplaced conception. This is because there are hidden costs such as worker's levy, food and lodging, medical and insurance fees which employers will have to bear. When such hidden costs are added up, the total can be close or equivalent to the salary of a local worker.
Foreign workers keep our estates clean, tend to our sick, get us around in our public transport system, build our HDB flats, and do the dirty jobs in our shipyards, docks, container ports and so on. If we did not have them to take up jobs in these sectors, how would we be able to achieve world-class status for our health and transport systems, public housing, hospitals and port?
Finally, unskilled or low-skilled foreign workers do not take jobs away from Singaporeans. How can the jobs be snatched away when they are jobs that Singaporeans have shunned in the first place?
Priscilla Poh (Ms)
