Gan Kim Yong wants older, low-wage workers to acquire new skills
February 8th, 2010 | 
Author: Written by Our Correspondent
Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong wants older, low-wage Singapore workers to acquire new skills so that they can earn more.
Speaking during a dialogue session yesterday, Mr Gan said:
“The focus is how to make it easier for older, low-wage workers to continue to acquire new skills… to pursue higher-value jobs so that their incomes can improve over time.”
Mr Gan did not elaborate more on the measures taken to achieve this aim except that they can now enjoy more benefits from the Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) scheme.
He disclosed that the the scheme will be made more “relevant” and “effective” by shortening the qualifying period and increasing the frequency of payment.
The Straits Times interviewed a father of six school-going children Mr Reduan Yussoff who receives WIS to supplement his meager monthly income of only $1,200.
“I didn’t want to repeat my experiences, so I aimed to learn new things…(the salary and WIS) is never enough in Singapore.”
Singapore’s lower income group is having an increasingly tough time to survive in their own country.
According to official statistics, their median salaries have remained stagnant for the last ten year, exacerbated by the relentless influx of cheap foreign workers into Singapore.
The ruling party has largely eschewed providing more social welfare benefits for Singaporeans on the grounds that it will create a “crutch” mentality.
In the aftermath of the 2006 general election, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said:
“Welfare has been treated like a dirty word in Singapore and rightfully so.”
Singapore workers are constantly exhorted by PAP leaders to be “cheaper, faster and better” and to work for as long as they can.
The elderly are commonly seen cleaning the toilets, scavenging for used cardboards or wiping the tables at coffeeshops for a living, a rare sight in a supposedly first world nation like Singapore.
A UBS study released last year revealed that Singaporeans have the lowest domestic purchasing power among developed nations though they work the longest hours.
There are no independent trade unions to represent the rights of Singapore workers, all of which are amalgamated into one single trade union – NTUC under the control of the PAP.
Neither can Singaporeans participate in protests, rallies and strikes. A Public Order Act enacted last year outlaws even a solo protest.
U.S.-based Freedom House described Singapore as not being a “democracy” and that Singaporeans are unable to change their government through the ballot box.
Respected international NGO Human Rights Watch recently condemned Singapore as a “textbook example of a repressive state”.
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41 Responses to “Gan Kim Yong wants older, low-wage workers to acquire new skills”
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I am highly skilled, and I’m exploring opportunities to leave this ‘repressive state’ where the govt doesn’t know what it’s doing. Overseas, I’m appreciated as a top talent and I have higher purchasing power, esp with cheaper but better housing as well as cheaper cars. The PAP better get their ideas right if they don’t want a brain drain of locally-bred Singaporeans.
How about GKY acquires new excuses instead of reusing old ones? It’s boring and we’re all sick of it.
“…older, low-wage Singapore workers to acquire new skills…”
Like a stuck record, haven’t we heard it before? There’s only so much upgrading that one can acquire. The problem is that cheap foreign workers have only ‘taken’ jobs away from a large section of the population, from the low-end to the mid-level jobs but also a decline in wages.
Correction.
“…older, low-wage Singapore workers to acquire new skills…”
Like a stuck record, haven’t we heard it before? There’s only so much upgrading that one can acquire. The problem is that cheap foreign workers have not only ‘taken’ jobs away from a large section of the population, from the low-end to the mid-level jobs and also resulted in a decline in wages.
Acquiring new skills don’t guarantee you a job or to be able to put new skill to good use. You cannot learn a new skill FOC and over night. By the time the older worker completes the learning, he/she will be even older. And the vacancies for the skill may be filled by FT! After that, GKY will repeat the same words again, “…older, low-wage Singapore workers to acquire new skills…”. It will never end.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said:
“Welfare has been treated like a dirty word in Singapore and rightfully so.”
The problem is that cheap foreign workers have only ‘taken’ jobs away from a large section of the population, from the low-end to the mid-level jobs but also a decline in wages.
HA HA.
Mr Gan is commanding Older Workers to take on new skill.
I hope he understands that it is hard to teach Old Dogs new tricks.
Mr Gan,
Singaporeans would not be faced with these problems if the influx of foreigners had been more stringent and better regulated. Now it does not appear so. You may pretend or feign ignorance or you got it all wrong. You are in politics not to serve the nation but your allegiance is to yourself and the party, in this instance, the PAP – which sadly is bereft of workable solutions. Yes, surely, they have indeed found a solution or it seems like that to me that this so-called foreign talent scheme is a scheming way to perpetuate power and nothing else.
Let me repeat lar – most foreigners are here to establish themselves only to and move back or go to another country. There is a lacunae in the law that allows them to get a free ‘ride’ at the expense of Singaporeans.
Many Singaporeans opine that the prospects for employment are dim and bleak cos foreigners are ’stealing’their jobs.
Don’t come up with rationalizations. Enough has been heard from you and the incumbent ruling party. The reasons, arguments and rationalizations and justifications put forth for such a pro-foreigner policy = is RESOUNDINGLY HOLLOW JUST AS YOUR PARTY. PAP is nothing more than this – DOUBLESPEAK AND DOUBLETALK.
I suggest you resign your job lar. U seem to have run out of solutions and your desperate attempts to shore up confidence with the LOCALS (in caps cos Singaporeans have been the forgotten lot)by rehashing and repeating it to the point of delirium smacks of ineptitude and hypocrisy lar.
Lastly, the words like focus, committee, re-building, Swiss standards, skills – aiyoh, stop lar and I plead cos it all means nothing. They are EMPTY words. It is being deceptive and misleading the public.
Problem is older workers are having tougher times landing a job, so even after retraining, they will be considered as a freshie, unexperienced worker..
and they need to compete with younger, cheaper foreigners..
Seriously, I wonder whether those people who come up with this sort of schemes are being realistic..
They need to realise that they need laws/regulations to make it such that foreigners are not much cheaper than employing locals.. And ensure no age discrimination..
hi there
1. piggy is singing some old tune, same old same old.
2. expecting a low-wage individual to be trained as “what”.
3. should be specific and draw out concrete stuffs.
4. talk, talk and more talk.
5. yes, trg is important but whether able to boost employability is still questionable.
6. well, i guess pig cannot think straight while eating or talking!
Does the government not have a solution to solve the middle class people’s employment issues? Why are they constantly talking about upgrading of skills for cleaners, etc? How much more can these people be trained to “add-value’? Get a professional certification for Corporate Cleansing Professionals?
Does the government expect middle-aged degree holders to take UPGRADING training to become a cleaner or security guard? This is a major problem and a lot more has to be done to salvage the situation.
The New Skill we acquired is Vote PAP OUT !
We had bitten enough bulletsssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss and our mouths are full !!!!!
You Idiot !
Why do we hear “training” and “re-training” year in year out?
It is like a broken record. One suspects that PAP advocates training, re-training and re-re-training so that the unemployed will be under-represented, while concurrently these fools will cough up savings to pop up GDP (attending commercial courses).
For all their “Singaporeans First” talk, have they really acted to moderate intake of foreigners?
Vote OUT PAP. Vote for Change!
Everything in Singapore is based on supply and demand and market forces will decide. Singapore is a free market and that free market will make everyone better off with respect to the WHOLE society. That’s why we should continue to support the government policy.
This Govt never failed to amaze me. They only switch on prior to election. They fell into a deep sleep for 4 years and woke up to find there are 1.8 million foreigners in Singapore and now try to do damage control.
Well, it’s too late. It’s heads you lose and tails you lose. All these things that they are saying now could have been said and done long before they implement the foreign worker’s policy. Fire fighting again as usual to reduce damage.
Well, fuck them dead for making proposals now and fuck them dead for not making proposals. Either way, you are dead. Enough is enough. Time for change.
Telling these unemployed people to go for training has began to sound like a broken record.
What is the use of training and retraining when low paid jobs are already taken by the FWs and higher paid ones by the FTs.
The Gahmen has clearly ran out of ideas on this one but since they cannot tell you straight to the face that they are clueless they have no other choice but to keep playing tai-chi and replaying the old stories.
The hard truth is that the influx of the foreigners have permanently displaced many Singaporeans particularly those >40 years and this time its no longer just the lowly paid category, Many executives, managers or even entry level senior positions have been taken by foreigners.
Most governments will be seriously concern about this negative fall out especially on their re-election chances but our Papaya gang is either still living in a dream world or so confident about their stranglehold that they will be returned to power that they remain deaf to our pleas and cries for help.
He is not talking he is just snorting.
I’m surprised no one picked up on Sumiko Tan’s article in the Sunday newspapers where she essentially said that our lower income people are not making the right choices. Her solution? For them to start their own businesses to become tilers and plumbers because that surely can improve their lot.
Idiot.
Gan Kim Yong wants older workers to acquire new skills such as cleaning floor , sweepers , taxi drivers etc …
ALL those who are above 40 are considered older workers in 2010
ALL those who are above 30 will be considered older workers in 2011
ALL those above 40 will be considered retired if cannnot find job within 6 mths in 2011
why spend $$ acquire new skills when the non-english speaking PRCs can easily get jobs but the english speaking citizens spending most of their youth time and $$ on education still can’t get job and higher pay? why must i fork out more money to upgrade myself when im still expected have to be “cheaper, faster and better” but that EVEN CHEAPER person will get the job instead?
why some older workers who spent their youth working so hard.. got retrenched.. and at that age “cannot be choosy”, so now no choice have to be cleaners (worker 12 hrs a day, 1 off day/wk, $700 pay!!).. is this what they deserve for contributing to the productivity of Singapore all this while?
Got to ask those PEOPLE who talk so much, to try sustain their living with low paying jobs, supporting children, house bills, have to put aside time and precious $$ to upgrade somemore but can’t expect HIGHER PAY!!
Yesterday I came to know of an old man who worked as a road sweeper for less than 3months became blinded and had 8 of his ribs broken not long ago after a car knocked him down when working. From what I knew, the compensation was not enough and he’s now very worry about the hospital bills. Currently staying in a one room HDB rental room and he wanted to see his MP. Wonders will the bills be written off and what recourse can he take? Seem like, the old and poor has to take all kind of the shit even at old age!!!
With the multi-million dollar salaries all these clowns are siphoning off from Singaporeans, they have already long time ago lost the moral authority to tell us what to do. The law, police, ISD, and SAF are mainly use to preserve their power status. If not, all these jokers would have been gone at least 10 yrs ago already.
Their mentality is like insurance or property agent — just out to earn fast money, can con as much $$$ from idiot customers as possible. And their method of operation is simply legalised mafia style.
we spent our entire youth pursuing a world class education only to get paid barely to make ends meet due to the influx of “FTs” that aren’t even qualified to take on those jobs in the first place.
cheaper faster better ?
only the “FTs” can make this possible.
the government didn’t realise that “Made In Singapore” is already a brand name by itself, rather than promoting and developing the value of this brand, they decide to stoop to a new low by using low quality, under qualified FTs.
i pray that Singaporeans will see the light, and realise how the ruling party’s been milking us.
let there be change.
Why we keep on hearing the incessant bark on need to learn and relearn new skills – I have been hearing this refrain for many many moons liao.
What does it imply? That means the people have been learning skills that were becoming outdated in a short span of time, OR they have been learning and re-learning the wrong skills, OR our education system has not been effective enough for all these donkey years, OR our planners have been very poor in getting the right cues all along AND keep on blindly teaching wrong skills to people????
How about some help for those with no pay?? They are more needy than those with no pay. Don’t say all of them are worthless lazy people. There are gaps in life that people just fall into and cannot get up on their own.
I suppose the standard PAP answer is “welfare is a dirty word”. But its not dirty if citizens donate time and money to help their fellow unfortunates. FUNNY is it NOT??
Mr Goh,
You are out of touch. Forget about committees. Put on a disguise and go apply for a sales-job or whatever job you can do and see what competition you will face.
Would it be more skills?? Please try my suggestion – or send one of your lower-downs to try.
Mr Gan,
Dont bluff lah. You keep telling people learn new skills this and that. What have you learn yourself. Can you wash the jamban sparking clean? Can you cook real Indian curry…no not the ready made, just-add water stuff. I mean real curry. Can you speak Japanese? You speak as if it is so easy, go and try yourself lah. Dont be a joker. Instead of thanking older Singaporeans for the contributions and hard work in the past for what they have done for this country, you people up there are telling them to learn new skills just before they fall into the grave is it.
Einstein said “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
maybe we should send the ministers for training too and give them a taste of their own medicine.
Let’s stop using the label ‘foreign talents’; they are just foreign workers, period.
Who is the fool here?
Him or us…
You can fool too many of the people too much of the time.
James Thurber (1894 – 1961
A fellow who is always declaring he’s no fool usually has his suspicions. Wilson Mizner (1876 – 1933)
A wise man can see more from the bottom of a well than a fool can from a mountain top . Unknown
Any fool can tell the truth, but it requires a man of some sense to know how to lie well. Samuel Butler (1835 – 1902)
Before God we are all equally wise – and equally foolish.
Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955)
Fools rush in where fools have been before. Unknown
It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt. Mark Twain (1835 – 1910)
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself – and you are the easiest person to fool. Richard Feynman (1918 – 1988)
Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain – and most fools do. Dale Carnegie
He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever. Chinese Proverb
]
A wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his friends. Baltasar Gracian
Only fools are positive. Moe Howard (1897 – 1975)
‘Tis better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt. Abraham Lincoln (1809 – 1865), (attributed)
The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts. Bertrand Russell (1872 – 1970)
Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius — and a lot of courage — to move in the opposite direction. E. F. Schumacher
I’m all in favor of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools. Let’s start with typewriters. Solomon Short
Haiz…: (
When even graduates in their 30s and 40s can’t get good jobs why do you still need older, low wage workers to acquire new skills?
Talk is cheap especially towards the election . Full of empty promises only . Singaporeans , do not make the same mistake again at the coming election . we cannot affort to let them rule anymore .
ask his old mom or dad to pick up some new skills.
@ Insulted
Mr Gan learns to bluff really well
“The elderly are commonly seen cleaning the toilets, scavenging for used cardboards or wiping the tables at coffeeshops for a living, a rare sight in a supposedly first world nation like Singapore.”
It is not a rare sight, but a very common one. But it is indeed ironic to see such sights in a first-world country like Singapore.
“older, low-wage workers to require new skills” PAP’s talk is so cheap it tears my ear drum just by hearing these sweeping statements.
We shd say it in the face of PM that WELFARE is a FILTHY word if he ever needs it. Although I doubt so. PAP fits exactly like a oligarchy with serious bureaucratic inertia. We need to do something if we want CHANGE! Regardless of what kind of change we’ll face. BETTER THAN STUCK IN A SHITHOLE!
Mr Gan,you and all ministers need to learn ‘new things’ in this New Economy like for instance,learn not to harp too much on unreliable GDP number,per capita income and productivity.
Go learn form Stiglitz and you will know what I mean!
What are new skills that people should have? What are they? Can train and re-train to death, but where are the employers who are willing to hire older workers, when young, cheap, foreign labour is easily available?
#Weil Ng on Mon, 8th Feb 2010 3:31 pm
“Does the government expect middle-aged degree holders to take UPGRADING training to become a cleaner or security guard? ”
I am afraid the answer is yes. The PAP MP in my constituency told me he could only help me to get work as a cleaner when I approached him for help in 2001. I was laid off and 39 at the time. Similarly I had a cousin who is now 39 and had not been successful in his job search for more than a year. And a friend in his early 40s who has been out of work for awhile; he was asked to take on the job as a cashier for $700 gross a month when he approached the Northeast CDC for help. That is not enough for his meals and transport!
Know what? These buggers are always asking us to retrain & retrain & retrain; I didnt pay him his millions so he could say the same thing everytime. It’s getting boring & I hope he could come up with some new materials!
Mr Gan, do you know how difficult for an elderly gentleman to go for training & yet make enough for his stomach? I am not sure if there’s any pay during re-training lessons but I am sure even it comes with a salary, it would just be enough for him to take the MRT & perhaps a meal. Have you ever tried doing it yourself, Mr Gan & do you REALLY know what the elderly are facing or perhaps, it’s all just hearsay from your bunch of cronies? Maybe you should start going to the ground without your PAs & Balls-Carriers & really see what the people are going thru. Or if you are too lazy, please read more of the Temasek Review, it would give you an idea of how the Average Joes are living!
gan,
your days in the ministry have kept you away from the misery experienced by the lower strata of society. i watched you and dare say you cannot even drill a hole in your wall.
so my advise to you is not to speak so easy . please use your backside and think before speaking. you are alientating yourself from the people with your shit.
Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong wants older, low-wage Singapore workers to acquire new skills so that they can earn more.
Why? Cos they can’t keep up with the standard of living in Singapore? And why is this so? Wake up lah 66%!