WORKER LEVIES UP FROM JULY

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SINGAPORE - With the overall dependency for all categories of foreign workers unchanged - employers can continue hiring the same number of foreign workers, but they will be paying more.

From July, foreign worker levies will be increased gradually over the next three years, starting with a "modest increase", said Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam yesterday.

Levy rates will first be raised by $10 to $30 for most Work Permit holders. Further increases will be phased in until it reaches a total increase of about $100 on average per worker in manufacturing and services.

However, there will be a "larger increase" in the construction sector, where there is "much scope for productivity improvements," said Mr Shanmugaratnam.

The current levy for Work Permit holders ranges from $150 to $470.

S Pass workers will see the biggest jump in their levy rates. From the single $50 rate now, there will be two levy tiers introduced, with rates at $100 and $120. By July 2012, the rates will reach $150 and $250.

These changes will "provide clear incentives for businesses to restructure and upgrade their operations so as to rely less on low-skilled foreign workers", said Mr Shanmugaratnam. However, he assured businesses they will get financial support to invest in productivity and develop higher-skilled workers, especially Singaporeans.

Explaining the need to manage Singapore's dependence on foreign workers, the Finance Minister said they already comprise one-third of the total workforce, and there are limits to the numbers Singapore can absorb.

Having the levies will allow employers to continue hiring foreign workers, rather than be "constrained by fixed quotas", he said.

Head of SIM University's Business Analytics programme Randolph Tan noted that the Government had taken "a paradigm shift" to distinguish between productive workers, and those who were not.

However Mr Tan noted that for an S-Pass holder earning $3,000 - and engaging in higher-skilled work - the higher $150 levy would be just 5 per cent, "way too low to influence employers to favour local workers", he said.

Some employers were surprised at the steep overall increase in levies, but vice- chairman for the Foochow Coffee Restaurant and Bar Merchants Association Hong Poh Hin felt it was better than tightening the quota as it gives businesses more "flexibility" in hiring decisions.

Lucky Joint Construction managing director Yeow Kian Seng said that without locals being interested in construction jobs, "we still have to "face the music" in order to keep projects going". But the company will move from labour-intensive projects to those involving cabling work that still attract locals.

Meanwhile, the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry has urged the Government to "monitor its adverse impact" on local businesses - saying there is a need to be "more flexible and accommodating" in addressing manpower shortages in specific industries.

More details of the changes to the foreign levy will be released later this week.

From TODAY, Tuesday, 23-Feb-2010

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Foreign maids to get 1 day off a week

A more humane treatment… this is good!

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05:55 AM Jun 18, 2009

KUALA LUMPUR - Foreign maids working in Malaysia will soon get one day off a week as part of a bid to improve working conditions for domestic helpers from overseas.

Human Resources Minister S Subramaniam told state media on Tuesday his ministry was amending the Employment Act to make it compulsory for employers to give maids a day off.

He said it was part of moves to prevent the abuse of domestic workers in Malaysia - most of whom are from Indonesia - who are not covered by legislation that protects foreign workers in other sectors like construction.

"The ministry will make it mandatory for all domestic helpers to sign (a) contract of employment containing provisions like salary, the name of employers, their workplaces and the compulsory one day off a week," Mr Subramaniam said.

Mr Subramaniam said the off day would be jointly determined by employer and employee while the domestic helper could forgo the rest day as long as they were compensated for it.

Employers could be fined up to RM10,000 ($4,128) if they fail to comply, he warned.

The minister added that the plan could be implemented this year, but did not elaborate on specifics.

More than 300,000 Indonesian women work as maids in Malaysia. Many have complained of ill treatment by their employers, including overwork, unpaid salaries and physical abuse. In a latest abuse case, a 33-year-old Indonesian maid claimed she was scalded with hot water and beaten by her employer, who is now in police custody.

However, not all are for the mandatory day off. Some agencies and employers worry that maids will use it to meet men and run away. "It looks very good on paper ... (but) if you give too much freedom to the maid, there is room for them to run away," said Mr Raja Zulkepley Dahalan, president of the Malaysian Association of Foreign Housemaids Agencies, which represents 160 of 360 maid agencies. AGENCIES

From TODAY, News – Thursday, 18-Jun-2009; see the source article here.

Unemployment could be health hazard

05:55 AM May 12, 2009

LOSING your job may make you sick, according to new research findings released last week.

A researcher at the Harvard School of Public analysed detailed employment and health data from 8,125 individuals surveyed in 1999, 2001 and 2003 by the US Panel Study of Income Dynamics.

Workers who lost a job through no fault of their own were twice as likely to report developing a new ailment such as high blood pressure, diabetes or heart disease over the next year and a half, compared to people who were continuously employed.

Interestingly, the risk was just as high for those who found new jobs quickly as it was for those who remained unemployed.

Though it's long been known that poor health and unemployment often go together, questions have lingered about whether unemployment triggers illness, or whether people in ill health are more likely to leave a job, be fired or laid off.

In an attempt to sort out this chicken-or-egg problem, the new study looked specifically at people who lost their jobs through no fault of their own - for example, because of a business closure.

"I was looking at situations in which people lost their job for reasons that ... shouldn't have had anything to do with their health," said author Kate W Strully, an assistant professor of sociology at State University of New York in Albany, who did the research as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation scholar at the Harvard School of Public Health.

"What happens isn't reflecting a prior condition," she added.

Only six per cent of people with steady jobs developed a new health condition during each survey period of about a year and a half, compared with 10 per cent of those who had lost a job during the same period.

It did not matter whether the laid off workers had found new employment. They still had a one in 10 chance of developing a new health condition, Dr Strully found. The New York Times

From TODAY, Health – Tuesday, 12-May-2009

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