With a global recession looming, political parties made their case for how they would keep Singaporeans in jobs and tackle unemployment.
The ruling People's Action Party (PAP) has put jobs front and centre of its election messaging, making it a key prong of its manifesto titled, Our Lives, Our Jobs, Our Future.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong pointed out that the Economic Development Board was able to attract $13 billion in new investments in the first quarter of this year, which will generate several thousand jobs over the next few years. In a video message on Wednesday, he said this was possible because investors know the Singapore Government has strong popular support and can get backing for "policies that will grow the economy, attract talent and investment, and eventually create jobs for Singaporeans".
"In a crisis, it is even more critical for us to reinforce these fundamentals, in order to attract more investments and jobs to Singapore," he added.
Manpower Minister Josephine Teo disclosed last Friday that 12,000 have been placed in new jobs under the SGUnited Jobs Initiative since March, as part of the Government's efforts to create more opportunities for work and traineeships amid the economic crisis brought on by the pandemic.
Jobs was also a central topic in a live debate last Wednesday.
Workers' Party (WP) candidate Jamus Lim highlighted the party's proposals for a national minimum take-home wage of $1,300 a month for full-time work, as well as a redundancy insurance scheme.
The scheme would see workers pay $4 a month, matched by employers, into an Employment Security Fund, and retrenched workers would receive a payout equivalent to 40 per cent of their last-drawn salary for up to six months, capped at $1,200 a month.
Progress Singapore Party (PSP) candidate Francis Yuen said Singaporeans have to get priority in jobs, by freeing up jobs held by foreign professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs).
"We believe that we need foreign PMETs to complement, but we need to believe that there is opportunity for us to slow it down," he said. On small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), he highlighted the need for them to thrive and prosper, to keep jobs available to Singaporeans.
MOM's Mrs Teo later said that the Government has taken pains to ensure Singaporean jobs are protected, by tightening foreign worker policies over the years. The schemes rolled out in the recent Budgets were specifically targeted to offer wage support for Singaporeans, signalling to employers that they should hold on to their local workers, while shedding foreign workers if need be.
FOCUS ON JOB SECURITY
The PAP's Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, who is also Foreign Minister, said job security is at the forefront of PAP's campaign. Citing the Jobs Support Scheme, which subsidises wages so that firms can retain workers, he said the Government was in effect paying three-quarters of the median wage of Singaporeans during the circuit breaker.
He also pointed to measures such as the income relief scheme for the self-employed and the SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package that will create 100,000 opportunities in the form of jobs, traineeships and paid skills training places.
He said: "(We have provided) emergency treatment and are looking beyond the horizon. And that's what we have been focused on - jobs, jobs, jobs."
SDP's Dr Chee Soon Juan, however, dismissed the government efforts as "an election jingle".
"Since 2003, we've had the Economic Review Committee and the Economic Strategies Committee, and of late, the Committee on the Future Economy. With each of these (committees), we see our productivity tanking," he said.
"Jobs were lost and we have unemployment. And just before the general election right now, you're telling people you want jobs, jobs, jobs. I think that is more an election jingle than a well-thought-out plan.
WP's Associate Professor Lim, who is contesting in Sengkang GRC in his first election, noted that the WP had done the maths and what it proposes is budget-neutral.
The PAP and the WP differ in where they think trade-offs should occur, he added, with the PAP tending to come down on the side of capital. The WP thinks that for every dollar of national income, workers are receiving an insufficient amount. "And we think that a rebalance of that kind of share of labour income is ultimately necessary," he said.
The WP reiterated the policy points it made earlier at an online rally last Thursday, with its chairman, Ms Sylvia Lim, calling for economic growth that is broad-based and inclusive.
Mr Yee Jenn Jong, who is contesting in Marine Parade GRC, said that a "grow at all cost" mentality had led to unsustainable growth and depressed wages for bottom income earners.
PAP leaders, however, questioned how the opposition parties intend to fund all of this.
Pointing out that the Government set aside 20 per cent of its GDP for fiscal stimulus during the pandemic, Dr Balakrishnan said on Wednesday that it is funding this not by "passing the burden to our children or grandchildren", but by dipping into Singapore's reserves.
"Our Pioneer and Merdeka generations always believed in spending less than they earn on a recurrent basis. That's why we have the reserves."
In an online Mandarin dialogue on Thursday, Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing, responding to proposals by the WP and PSP to raise wages in blue-collar professions and increase the net investment returns contribution by up to 10 per cent, asked: "Who will foot the bill?"
He added that given the global economic downturn, raising other forms of taxes - such as income, property and corporate tax - will be challenging.
It will also be difficult to earn as much as before from investing the country's reserves, he said, adding: "This is not child's play. These are challenges that we will be facing over the next 10 years.
"If we had, in the past, done what the WP is proposing, we would not have enough money to see us through the crisis today."
