Migrant workers in the construction, shipyard and process industries have a small window of opportunity to look for transfer jobs if they and their current employers are not able to agree on renewing their Work Permits. There is a 20-day period as the Permit expiry date approaches for them to look for a transfer, without the need to obtain consent from their current employers.

We call this the “no-consent transfer period”.

This policy has been in place for nearly ten years. Yet, at TWC2, we do not often hear of workers being able to successfully move to new jobs under this scheme. Our anecdotal observation is consistent with numbers given by then-Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say, when he told Parliament in November 2017:

Since 2005, we allow work permit holders (WPHs) in the construction sector to change employers if their current employers agree. Since 2015, we also allow all construction sector WPHs to change employers at the end of their work permit term, if they are not able to come to a mutual agreement on the renewal of their work permits. Since June this year, we also allow WPHs in the process sector the same flexibilities. In addition, WPHs who have valid claims against their employers have been allowed to find another employer. The transfer policy improves productivity as employers benefit from hiring WPHs with work experience in Singapore. Employers also save on repatriation, search and hiring costs, as the WPHs do not have to leave Singapore.

As of Oct 2017, approximately 128,000 WPHs changed employers before the end of their work permit terms with their employers’ consent. Another 400 WPHs changed employers after completing their work permit terms.

Frankly, it is unclear how to interpret the given statistics. For example, the minister said 128,000 workers have been able to get new jobs with employers’ consent. But is this the total for the twelve years 2005 to 2017?  Possibly, and if so, it works out to about 10,000 a year.

And then, when he said “Another 400 [Work Permit holders] changed employers after completing their work permit terms”, was he referring to the two or three years 2015 to 2017? Assuming he was, it works out to about 60 – 100 a year. But were these 400 using this scheme or were they using some other arrangement?

However we interpret it, it is obvious that only a small number of workers managed to switch jobs after failing to get Permit renewal. With 300,000 to 400,000 Work Permit holders in construction, and half of Permits expiring each year – they have, at most, 2-year validity – to see only 60 to 100 no-consent job switches a year is a drop in an ocean.

But Lim was speaking in 2017, seven years ago. Maybe it is vastly different today, and many more workers are able to take advantage of the scheme. Unfortunately, the Ministry of Manpower does not release data in a regular and structured way, so we have no way of knowing how many workers benefit from the scheme.

Since we so seldom hear workers speaking about utilising the option, we have a feeling that it is perhaps not working as well as it should. We decided to do a qualitative study on workers’ experiences of the scheme and, if they have not ever tried to use it, their opinion of it.

The study began with a small survey on Facebook. Not intending to do a quantitative study, we only needed enough responses to see if we could find workers who have ever used the scheme. Out of 123 respondents, 54 of them (44%) said they had attempted to use it. This percentage may not mean much because, more than likely, there was volunteer bias, that is to say, workers who have tried to use the scheme and therefore have an interest in the subject, were probably more likely to participate in the survey.

Of these 54 men who tried to use the scheme to switch jobs, 35 of them (i.e. two in three of those who tried to use the scheme) succeeded in getting a new job.

From these 123 respondents, we brought ten men into focus group sessions. These ten included those who succeeded in transferring, those who tried but failed and those who didn’t attempt at all. We were interested to hear what their thoughts and experiences were. Interestingly, the men also gave suggestions how the scheme could be improved.

The report (15 pages in PDF) can be downloaded by clicking on the icon at right.