Singapore should require all employment Pass and S-Pass applicants to undergo and pay for an assessment of their educational credentials, so that only objectively qualified foreigners are hired, said Workers' Party chief Pritam Singh.
He also called for stronger deterrence against unfair hiring, saying the country should consider enacting anti-discrimination laws to punish errant companies that discriminate against Singaporean workers.
He made the suggestions as he spoke during the debate on the President's Address about the need to change the way foreign professionals are managed here, to address the concerns of citizens who feel excluded from job opportunities.
Devoting a substantial part of his speech to the issue, he said: "If we do not move purposefully to consolidate and position the Singaporean PMET (professional, manager, executive and technician) in a competitive position vis a vis the work pass holder, the Government will not be able to secure support for its economic agenda and take advantage of opportunities while maintaining a social harmony."
Foreigners who work here keep Singapore economically relevant and also create job opportunities for Singaporeans, he said, and many people are accepting of them.
"But it is precisely because we need foreigners to power our economy that we need to pay more attention to Singapore workers who feel excluded from opportunities created in their homeland," he said.
The Leader of the Opposition noted that there are currently no criminal penalties for companies guilty of unfair hiring practices.
Pushing for more teeth for the Tripartite Alliance for Fair Employment Practices, or Tafep, he said: "Surely this tempts recalcitrant employers into trying their luck. If they practise unfair hiring, all that happens is that they are stopped from hiring unfairly for two years."
Employers currently only face criminal prosecution if they make false declarations on fair consideration, he noted.
Pointing to two recent instances of firms put on a watch list for having a large proportion of foreigners of the same nationality holding PMET jobs - almost three-quarters of PMET jobs at a wealth management firm and two-thirds of PMET jobs at a bank - he said it begs the question of how this could have happened without being detected.
"Singaporeans may be justified in asking if MOM has tolerated their unfair hiring practices for some time," he added.
He acknowledged that there could be reasons for firms to do so, such as if a bank's customers do not speak any of the languages widely used in Singapore, and that the issue can be complex.
He also noted that some banks have said they could not find enough Singaporeans with the needed expertise, adding that this could point to gaps in the education and training systems, which must be "found and plugged as soon as possible".
Noting that the issue is a hot-button one that often generates "a lot of heat but very little light", he said: "The problem is that we simply do not know enough. And the vacuum has given space for a more toxic conversation to ferment...To this end, more information, and not less, is certainly most helpful."
He urged the Government to set up a Parliamentary Select Committee to look into the limitations of the workforce and the needs of the economy, as well as the realities faced by Singaporean workers competing for jobs and the constraints faced by employers.
Mr Singh also suggested that the Ministry of Manpower publish names of recalcitrant employers.
"We can then understand the operating paradigm of such businesses and how they intend to make the transition to fair hiring practices."
