In his speech in Parliament on Sep. 2, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong echoed some of the points regarding foreign workers that were made in the past two days.

He acknowledged the sentiment that Singaporeans are feeling anxious and pressured about their jobs, and feel that it is unfair when foreigners replace them or take up good jobs ahead of them.

However, PM Lee also said that Singapore has no choice but to top up our population with foreign workers to grow our economy.

At the same time, policies can be used to produce the best outcomes for the Singaporean worker.

Foreign worker policies

PM Lee re-emphasised the pre-existing policies at play that help to control the inflow of immigrants into the country.

At the lower level, PM Lee said that they will use a mix of levies and quotas.

At the middle level, there are also levies and quotas imposed on the S Pass.

However, the government also imposes other requirements such as minimum salary and qualifications.

For the PMET workers, PM Lee said that the "key issue" is about controlling the quality and guaranteeing that the people brought in are those who can contribute to Singapore.

However, PM Lee added that while both EP and S Pass numbers have actually come down since Covid-19, Singapore still have to make adjustments to work pass schemes.

"The purpose of the Employment Pass scheme is to top up at the higher end of these PMET jobs. Therefore, we need to tighten the EP qualifying criteria," added PM Lee.

"And that is why at the lower levels of employment pass holders, the proportion of Singaporeans is higher, and at the higher levels, the proportion of Singaporeans is slightly lower, because we are deliberately bringing in employment pass holders who are at a higher level and can contribute to us," explained PM Lee.

Not just about the numbers

PM Lee acknowledged that it is not just the numbers Singaporeans are concerned about.

He said: "There is no comfort in knowing that the total numbers are not too many, if personally we feel that we have been discriminated against at the workplace, or that the EP holder working beside us somehow has an inside track because of old school ties or some other personal connections."

PM Lee recommitted to working with unions to make sure that any retrenchments are done fairly.

He said that in evaluating E Pass and S Pass applications, the government takes into account whether the employer has kept up support of local PMETs in their employment, and has been responsive to the government's efforts to help them recruit and train more Singaporean PMETs.

"This has always been a government policy, but we want to emphasise these considerations now, in these uncertain times, to remind all employers to play their part in building up their Singaporean workforce, the Singaporean core."

PM Lee also addressed a Facebook post depicting DBS CEO Piyush Gupta with Indian employees last September.

He said that the post, which claimed that it was taken in Singapore, was "fake news".

"That picture was taken in India, where DBS had opened a new office, not in Singapore," said PM Lee. "The person who put up the post surely knew this, yet he irresponsibly misused the wefie to insinuate that DBS in Singapore was not being fair to Singaporeans."

Cannot close up Singapore

While the government will always be on the side of Singaporeans, PM Lee said that we cannot give the impression that we are no longer welcoming foreigners.

He said: "Ultimately, our aim is to grow our economy, create good jobs for Singaporeans and raise our standards of living. Foreign workers and Work Pass holders help us achieve this."

PM Lee said that even in this economic climate, many investment projects still want to come to Singapore, citing Hyundai Motor's recent decision to set up a major facility here.

He shared more of these upcoming projects, which include:

• A pharmaceutical company that is planning to build a facility in Singapore to manufacture vaccines.
• A pandemic risk insurance company wants to open a branch here.
• Several Fortune 500 companies are considering moving their regional HQs to Singapore.
• Major financial institutions want to grow their operations in Singapore.

He added: "But for them to come here, they must feel welcome, and be allowed to bring in the talent they need because we don’t have the full complement of specialist engineers and other expertise for all these types of work yet."

More fundamental question

PM Lee said that the economic benefits of Singapore's foreign worker policies are very clear.

"But there is a more fundamental question we have to ask ourselves: What sort of society and people do we want to be?" asked PM Lee.

“We have always been a people open to the world, welcoming others who can add value to our society, and bringing the best out of us. This is our history and ethos, from our beginnings as an open port and immigrant nation,” he added.

"We may be under stress now, but we cannot turn inwards," said PM Lee. "We will adjust our policies to safeguard Singaporean jobs, but let us show confidence that Singaporeans can hold our own in the world."

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Top image from PM Lee/FB and MOM/FB.