The new Tech.Pass, together with Employment Pass salary criteria adjustments, will help develop a Singaporean core with better skills, argues Xu Le from Channel News Asia.
“The COVID-19 crisis has crushed global economic growth and battered the Singapore economy. Singapore’s Growth Domestic Product (GDP) growth forecast for 2020 is expected to come in at “-6.5 to-6 per cent”, announced by the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) on Nov 23.
The gloomy economic outlook, coupled with global economic uncertainties, not only paints a bleak picture for the local labour market but also tests Singapore’s openness to global talent.
To encourage employers to hire more Singaporean workers, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) raised the minimum salary required for new Employment Pass (EP) and S Pass (SP) applicants in early August.
To qualify for EPs for foreign workers, the job must pay at least S$4,500 per month, which is $600 higher than it was before. That figure is S$5,000 for the financial services from Dec 1 onwards.”
