Tag Archives: Survey & statistics
Discussion: survey, data and statistics
More of here, less of there: increase in repeat workers and fat profits for the underground job broker in Singapore
The recruitment landscape for non-domestic Work Permit holders has changed dramatically in just a few short years. About 80% of these workers are ‘repeat workers’ i.e. they have had a job here before their current ones. This is a big change from only four years ago when we found a slight majority on their first Continue Reading »
Foreign construction workers continue to reduce, no improvement in productivity
The number of Work Permit holders in the construction industry has gradually declined since a peak in 2015. Last December (2018), there were 280,500 Work Permit holders in this sector, fourteen percent below the 2015 figure of 326,000. To a large degree, the fall in the number of foreign construction workers mirrors the contraction of Continue Reading »
27% fewer foreign worker claims at ECT in 2018 compared to 2017, why?
On 6 March 2019, Nominated Member of Parliament Anthea Ong asked the Minister of Manpower to supply figures for 2017 and 2018 respectively regarding … (a) how many salary claims were filed by (i) local employees and (ii) foreign workers at the Employment Claims Tribunal; (b) how many court orders were issued to errant employers Continue Reading »
The Cuff Road Project in 2018
TWC2’s Cuff Road Project (TCRP) serves the immediate needs of South Asian male migrant workers. Specifically, these are workers who are awaiting resolution of claims, complaints or investigations they’ve lodged with the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), and have no access to paid work from their employers due to injury or salary problems or other disputes Continue Reading »
Are foreign workers abusing WIC claims?
By Debbie Fordyce The first graph (below) suggests that a disproportionate number of Indian and Bangladeshi migrant workers lodge injury claims within the first six months of starting a job. Moreover, TWC2’s observation is that many of these injuries are minor and result in little compensation or will heal completely, thus meriting no disability compensation Continue Reading »
Officials to clamp down on fake salary vouchers, but will it work?
The news site TodayOnline reported that the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) “plans to clamp down on employers who abuse salary vouchers — such as by having employees indicate receipt of their wages before they are paid.” The news story was dated 26 November 2018 (Link). On the face of it, this sounds like progress. It’s Continue Reading »
Policy brief 2018, no. 2: Require mandatory reporting of injuries to MOM by healthcare providers
In the second of four policy briefs for 2018, Transient Workers Count Too recommends that healthcare providers should have a duty to report to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) when a migrant worker is issued more than three days medical leave or is hospitalised for 24 hours or longer. This should be in addition to Continue Reading »
Foreign workforce numbers, 2017
The number of Work Permit holders in the construction sector declined by nearly 10% between end-2016 and end-2017, latest figures on foreign workforce numbers show. There were 284,900 construction Work Permit holders end-2017 compared to 315,500 of them end-2016. It’s a reduction of over 30,000. This mirrors the 8.4% contraction in construction industry GDP in Continue Reading »
Do MOM’s injury statistics hide more than they reveal?
A TWC2 research volunteer recently unearthed some interesting statistics regarding workplace injuries in the construction industry. Compared to other industrialised nations, the ratio of construction injury to overall injury rate and the ratio of construction injuries to fatalities is relatively low in Singapore. In the construction sector, the ratio of injuries to fatalities was 82:1 for Singapore in 2015. This Continue Reading »
Victims of unpaid salaries have hard time getting transfer jobs
One of the more encouraging things that Transient Workers Count Too has noticed in the past few years is that now, nearly all victims of unpaid salary are given a chance by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) to look for new jobs in Singapore without first having to return home. The significance of the above may be Continue Reading »