Singapore may struggle to achieve 3% annual growth productivity

That is if Singapore wants to increase real incomes for Singaporeans broadly, including those with low incomes.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Manpower Tharman Shanmugaratnam, in the addendum to the President’s Address, said, “The National Productivity and Continuing Education Council will coordinate and provide strong support for this national productivity effort. The $2 billion National Productivity Fund is helping industries implement specific roadmaps to improve productivity through market and business development, automation, better use of IT, job and process re-design and training.”

Here’s the summary of the addendum:

MOM’s Objectives & Priorities:

• Achieve Inclusive Growth. Help Singaporeans secure good jobs and raise skills, so as enjoy sustained increases in wages over the next 10 years. Special focus on lower-income workers

• A balanced approach to manpower policies. Help companies adjust to a tight labour market so as to keep overall share of foreigners at no higher than one-third of workforce in the long term

• Singaporeans to have ample opportunities to develop abilities and be at the core of a diverse, globally competitive workforce even as we remain open to talent from abroad

Three Key Thrusts

Push for Productivity and High Skills for Every Job in the Singapore workforce:

• Seek to achieve 2-3% annual growth productivity over the next 10 years, as basis for increased incomes for all including lower-income Singaporeans

• Help businesses to take advantage of tax incentives and the $2 billion National Productivity Fund

Promote passion for lifelong learning – Government will extend CET coverage to include all segments of workforce, improve CET quality

Foster Inclusive Growth

• MOM will take further measures to help low wage workers upgrade, secure good jobs and achieve higher incomes:
o Review of Workfare schemes and encourage companies to adopt responsible outsourcing practices

• Older workers a key focus as Singaporeans are now healthier and living longer. Retirement and Re-employment Act will be in force from January 2012
o Review the CPF contribution rates of older employees
o Improve the product features in CPF Life to ensure retirement needs are met.

Promote Harmonious, Fair and Safe Workplaces

• Renew and strengthen tripartism to address manpower challenges, including developing guidelines that promote fair merit-based opportunities for Singaporeans

• Strengthen MOM’s system of enforcement and penalties to deter abuse of rules governing employment of foreign workers, and to ensure their well-being

• Refine our Foreign Domestic Worker (FDW) policies to improve entry/recruitment of FDWs and experience of employers/FDWs

• Press on with our efforts to raise workplace safety standards and reduce our workplace fatality rate to less than 1.8 per 100,000 workers by 2018

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