One Pass part of suite of measures to remain competitive
Others include exempting employers from job ad rule when hiring top 10% of EP holders
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The new Overseas Networks and Expertise (One) Pass for top foreign talent is one scheme among several that ensure Singapore's workforce stays competitive, Manpower Minister Tan See Leng said in Parliament on Monday.
Unveiled last month, the One Pass targets top foreign professionals drawing a fixed monthly salary of $30,000 or more from a single employer, or those with outstanding achievements in various fields.
One Pass holders are able to hold multiple jobs and start one or more businesses concurrently.
"(The) One Pass is one part of a broader framework that we have been rolling out for the last few months," said Dr Tan.
He was responding to Mr Don Wee (Chua Chu Kang GRC) on extending the flexibility of the One Pass to Employment Pass (EP) holders working in small and medium-sized enterprises.
Other enhancements to the work pass framework include exempting employers, when hiring the top 10 per cent of EP holders, from a job advertising requirement that ensures fairer employment opportunities for Singaporeans, to give global firms certainty they can hire key staff for their operations here, Dr Tan said in a ministerial statement.
EP holders who qualify for this Fair Consideration Framework (FCF) exemption are mainly senior professionals or management staff.
"For such roles, companies would already have a stringent selection process to hire the right candidate, given the impact these individuals would have on their business," said Dr Tan. "It is also more likely that headhunters or search firms will play a role to fill these jobs, and it is not typical for these roles to be filled by advertising on job portals like MyCareersFuture.sg alone."
Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh (Aljunied GRC) had asked about the rationale for exempting the top 10 per cent of EP holders from the job advertising criteria as well as the Complementarity Assessment Framework (Compass).
Under the FCF, employers need to advertise job openings to locals for 14 days before they can hire an EP or S Pass holder, unless the foreign talent earns $20,000 a month or more.
Come Sept 1 next year, this sum goes up to $22,500, a figure pegged to the top 10 per cent of EP holders, which will also become the mark to qualify for the Personalised Employment Pass.
Compass, a points-based framework that assesses the attributes of an EP applicant and his employer, is slated to kick in next September.
Dr Tan said those who qualify for the FCF exemption "would also have no problems passing the Compass criteria, given their calibre".
He added that providing the exemption from both Compass and the job advertising requirement helps to bolster global companies' confidence to operate here.
Dr Tan also addressed restoring the job advertising requirement period to 14 days on Sept 1 this year. He noted the duration was set at 14 days when introduced in 2014, and doubled to 28 days during the Covid-19 pandemic, as there were more job seekers than vacancies.
The job market has since rebounded, with more than two vacancies per local job seeker now.
Dr Tan said: "Based on data from MyCareerFutures.sg, the vast majority of applications are submitted within the first two weeks of a job posting. Thereafter, responses fall off significantly... So, 14 days was an optimal balance between giving job seekers time to look for a job and making sure companies could fill their vacancies in response to pressing business needs."
