For those who are opposed to min. wage and citing sources from overseas on how min. wage is bad, have you ever considered the possibility that policies are subjected to the context of the country? PWM is introduced to help Singaporeans and prs only. Have you ever thought why this is the case?
We all know why we continue to bring in foreign workers to Singapore but there's only so much jobs that can be taken up by Singaporeans. Improving the wage by afew measly dollars would more than likely ensure that Singaporeans can survive and at the same time, work towards a better future. Give the jobs most likely to be affected by min. wage to fw and give jobs that are least likely to be affected by it to singaporeans.
Hi rikujo,
I have no objection to minimum wage or any just measure to avoid labor exploitation (labour justice doesn't just encompass salary level, also includes leave entitlement etc).
Problem with Singapore is that we are ADDICTED to foreign labour and minimum wages cannot just apply to Singaporeans only since anyone who works is a laborer so one cannot discriminate, except under the excuse of exclusive citizen schemes like pension, training schemes etc. (CPF and progressive wage model) respectively. Otherwise, there is diplomatic offense if foreigners are discriminated. Will look very bad on Singapore government too, treating foreigners like outcast when PAP keeps on trying to attract 'foreign talent'.
Number of work permits in Singapore is so high that once minimum wage is implemented, the principal beneficiaries are the work permits and phantom Singaporean workers.
Thus we have painted ourselves into a corner and removed minimum wage (in the most basic manner) out of being a possible option to solve wage inequality in Singapore.
(Min wage is a very gross, basic and low level policy, most suited for either less developed economies or those with very little foreign cheap labour as part of the labour force, e.g. China, India, Phillipines and some wealthy Europe countries where there are strict restrictions on foreign blue collar labour etc).