Work Permit Changes Seen Easing Manpower Shortages

Industry players say revamp will also help firms carve out higher-value jobs for locals

- Tay Hong Yi

An upcoming revamp of the work permit framework is set to reduce the costs and time needed to train new migrant workers. This will help firms carve out higher-value jobs for locals while meeting the demand for rank-and-file workers, industry players told The Straits Times.

Companies in services and manufacturing also welcomed an expansion to a list of occupations for which they can hire work permit holders from more locations, with more job roles and more locations added to the list. The surprise addition of Bhutan as one of the new places where employees can be recruited will let firms access a whole new profile of workers, observers said.

Minister for Manpower Tan See Leng had announced on March 6 that from July 1, there will be no hard cap on the maximum duration that work permit holders can work here—a move that industry players said is one of the furthest-reaching labour policy changes in recent years.

Currently, these workers can work in Singapore for only between 14 and 26 years, depending on their skill level and country of origin.

With the change, work permit holders—aside from migrant domestic workers, who fall under a slightly different regime—will be able to work till the prevailing retirement age, which is now 63.

One worker who will benefit from the lifted cap is Mr Sethu Rajinikanth, a facility executive at Singapore shipbuilder Strategic Marine.

If this cap were not lifted, Mr Rajinikanth, who has worked for the company since he came to Singapore 17 years ago, would be able to work here for only another nine years due to the 26-year limit on his work permit.

Under the new rules, Mr Rajinikanth, who is 48, will be allowed to continue working here for about five years longer.

He said he feels greater job security with the pressure of the employment limit lifted.

"Otherwise, I might have to go home or find work in another country," he said.