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Imposing a levy on Employment Passes (EP) would miss the point of the tiered foreigner work visa system, said Minister for Manpower Tan See Leng in response to a suggestion from the Progress Singapore Party's Leong Mun Wai.

Leong had previously reiterated his party's stance that a S$1,200 monthly levy be introduced on employment pass holders, positing that it was "urgently needed to level the playing field for Singaporeans PMEs".

"It is easy enough for the government to do so because it generates revenue, right? But at the EP level, Mr Leong, our focus is really on making sure [...] we can get the best, the highest quality, the highest qualified talent anywhere in the world to come here," said Tan, during the Mar. 1 Committee of Supply debates.

"Employers do not have infinite budgets for manpower. We should think about a win-win partnership," he added.

Employment Passes are currently given to foreign professionals, managers and executives who earn at least S$5,000 monthly.

CPF disadvantaging locals?

Earlier, Leong had argued that increasing CPF contributions from employers — due to the raising of the salary ceiling — would put local professionals at a disadvantage as employers will not need to make CPF contributions for foreigners on EPs.

Tan replied that the minimum qualifying salary for EPs was set against a benchmark derived from the gross salary of a local professional from a similar cohort including CPF contributions from an employer.

"If you look at it from the perspective of someone who has been here for 10 years, the salary of that EP holder is on a rising scale. It will not be at S$5,000. The EP holder for him to be able to get that EP, the company will have to set that qualifying salary probably at above S$10,000," continued the minister.

"So with that, we believe that we have adequately addressed any form of income disparity."

Can we guarantee top positions for locals?

Leong also used the debate to seek clarification on whether the manpower minister expected local information technology (IT) graduates to occupy a larger share of IT jobs in the future — "especially in higher positions in the next five years, given that the number of local IT graduates will be increasing significantly?"

Tan countered that the government had set up various programmes — "the SGEP, the global ready talent, the Tech@SG" — to invest and upskill Singaporeans.

"But [...] whether I can provide some form of guarantee over the next five years, whether they will all end up in high positions, I don't think anyone can guarantee that," said Tan.

"We can guarantee a level playing at the outset of every single level. But I don't think anyone can guarantee a similar high outcome or success for everyone."

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Top image from MCI's YouTube channel