Discussion: survey, data and statistics
In the second quarter of 2021, there were only 15 cases of Covid-19 in worker dormitories, a mere fraction of cases in Singapore.
Six men had jobs involving ships or marine structures. They had all received two doses of vaccine and five were asymptomatic.
Employers acting in self-interest couldn't care less if they hurt the national interest. Singapore unfortunately jealously protects employers' self-interest. It's a dogma thing.
MOM takes issue with our commentary about different numbers being bandied about re salary claims. Clearer numbers make the root issue even clearer!
In the second half fo 2020, Singapore could have lost 10,000 - 20,000 construction workers who would actually have wanted to stay on and work.
In September 2020, we had 801 Covid-19 cases from the dorms. From October, there has been a dramatic improvement.
A deep study of the hazards encountered by migrant workers in their attempts to switch jobs. Rules are complex, costs are high and plans easily derailed.
In 2018 and 2019, over 60% of all salary claims were filed by foreign employees. Even digging these basic figures out involved sleuthing. Many things still opaque.
This represents good improvement, but to be meaningful, more needs to be disclosed as to how this figure was arrived at and what monitoring system is in place.
We did a quick poll in October 2020 to see whether dorm-based workers were back at work and whether they were getting paid. And could they get to ATMs?
