Strengthening the Singaporean Core (Adjournment Motion)
Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang (Nee Soon): Madam, it is not fair. Today, I will speak about the unfair discrimination women and mothers face before they take even a single step in the workplace.
I am speaking up about this again because it is clear that women are treated unfairly at the workplaces. Based on MOM’s data, women earned a median salary of $342 less than men, even those doing the same type of job.
Our female labour force participation rate also shows a disparity. The most recent quarter of data shows that women’s labour participation rate was 61.2%, far below the 75.4% for men.
Working mothers in particular face unique struggles. Last year, a female resident shared worrying concerns with me. She said, "I have just been to an interview. The HR personnel called me a mother before they even called me by my name. I am in the line of recruitment and such stories are a dime a dozen. My take is that the focus should be on whether we are up for the job. It should not be on whether we are a mother and then assume that we are not able to do the role."
I have personally witnessed the conditions my resident talked about. At one job fair that I visited just this past year, I was encouraged by the efforts to help locals find new jobs. What was less encouraging to see was that almost every single booth that I visited asked in their application forms about the marital status and number of children of the applicants. These questions have nothing to do with how capable an applicant is and they disproportionately hurt the chances of women and mothers to find employment.
A study by researchers at Cornell University found that women who did not have children were two times more likely to be called for an interview, as compared with similarly qualified mothers.
Questions about marital status, number of children and plans to have children are not one-off. They are widespread in our economy and a standard part of many companies’ recruitment processes.
Last year, I launched a public survey about this. Eighty percent of female respondents said they had been asked about their marital status at the point of recruitment. Fifty percent were asked whether they have had or planned to have children. More than 60% felt that having children or planning to have children would make them more likely to be rejected or to be offered a lower salary.
One respondent said, "At a final interview with a local bank, they blatantly told me that I should not get pregnant if I were to take on the role."
Over the weekend, just this weekend, another young mother shared with me about the numerous times she faced discrimination during job interviews. She was asked about her childcare arrangements, who would pick up and drop off the child and even whether she would not do work when her child is unwell. She shared with me, “My husband has never once been subjected to questions similar to those which I have received at interviews or ever been "grilled" about our childcare arrangement; or whether he is sure he can put in the work required even when his interviewers are aware that he is married and has a child”. The young mother asked me, “Is it fair that they get penalised for it before even being given the opportunity to prove their worth?”
Indeed, questions about marital status and number of children are harmful. They hurt the job prospects of all women, with mothers particularly suffering. They hurt employers as they may miss out finding the best candidate for their roles. They hurt our nation’s standing as a society that provides fair opportunities to women.
Fortunately, we do not have to start from scratch in tackling such discrimination. We have the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practice, or the Tripartite Guidelines for short. The Tripartite Guidelines on job application forms prohibit questions on age, gender, race, religion, marital status, family responsibilities and disability.
The Guidelines are a step in the right direction by setting out fair and responsible employment and hiring practices.
However, the Tripartite Guidelines remain that – guidelines. In the meantime, questions that clearly flout the guidelines are openly asked on application forms and in job interviews. The reality is that these Guidelines are a weak deterrence and are routinely flouted. The current penalty of curtailing work pass privileges for non-compliance is neither appropriate nor sufficient.
It is inappropriate because it makes no sense. We are telling companies that treating women with fairness is important if you want to hire foreign workers. It is insufficient because it does not cover every employer. If you do not hire foreign workers, how would you be hurt by curtailment of work pass privileges?
I know I usually ask for many things. Today, I only have one thing to ask. And that is for us to legislate the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices. It would address not only discrimination on the basis of gender or marital status, but also protects against workplace discrimination based on age, race, religion and disability.
It would also provide more methods for enforcement and a wider range of penalties to tackle workplace discrimination. If we are serious about tackling discrimination, we should not tie our own hands by wielding only the blunt tool of work pass privileges.
Most importantly, legislating the guidelines will send a loud and clear message to employers that discrimination in the workplace will not be tolerated. It will be illegal and unfair practices will be punished by law. It is time that our laws on workplace discrimination match the seriousness and pervasiveness of the problem.
Madam, the common thread that runs through all three of our speeches today is that we all agree that we need to legislate the Tripartite Guidelines. We know that MOM is the most compassionate Ministry and I hope MOM will say yes to us.
Madam, I am speaking up about this not just for my three daughters who I want to be treated fairly, not just for all women, but for all of us and for our society as a whole and mostly because it is the right thing to do. Let us end the discrimination.
The Minister for Manpower (Dr Tan See Leng): Mdm Deputy Speaker, I thank Mr Patrick Tay, Mr Saktiandi Supaat and Mr Louis Ng for sharing their views on strengthening the Singaporean Core and ensuring workplace fairness. They have been championing these issues for many years, together with other People’s Action Party (PAP) and Labour Members of Parliament, both past and present. I am grateful for their advocacy.
These issues are indeed top of mind and longstanding priorities for MOM too.
We will address them in two ways today: one, enabling Singaporeans to succeed as industries and jobs transform; and two, tackling workplace discrimination. I will speak on our key efforts in these areas and plans to strengthen fair employment standards.
By accelerating technology adoption and equipping Singaporeans with skillsets for future jobs, we will enable them to seize new opportunities and succeed at the workplace. Businesses will also have a strong local talent pool to support their transformation efforts and growth to compete globally. This is a win-win for all of us.
Jobs and skills for Singaporeans are at the front and centre of MOM’s as well as sector agencies’ plans. The 23 Industry Transformation Maps guide our efforts to upskill and reskill Singaporeans at various stages of their careers. Our graduates are equipped with industry know-how at our Institutes of Higher Learning and we support lifelong learning and skills mastery through the national SkillsFuture movement. Middle-age workers making mid-career switches are supported through Career Conversion Programmes or CCPs. CCPs provide up to 90% training and salary support during the period of training to employers who hire and reskill our mid-career jobseekers. Today, there are over 100 CCPs across 30 sectors and more are being added every year.
Our close partnership with employers, with industry associations ensure that training is always relevant to employers' needs and this means our workers see direct benefits. Programmes such as the Technology in Finance Immersion and TechSkills Accelerator help Singaporeans gain exposure and experience in key tech areas in the financial services sector and allow company-led training programmes to accelerate professional development in 5G, Internet of Things and cybersecurity respectively.
MOM is also working with sector agencies to develop Jobs Transformation Maps (JTMs) with detailed job-level insights on the impact of technology on each industry. We have already launched three JTMs: one for HR, one for logistics and another one for the financial services sector. We have plans for 12 more. These JTMs will be a useful compass to prepare all of our workers for the future of work. For example, following the financial services JTM, financial institutions have committed to reskill and to redeploy more than 5,000 employees to take on new and enhanced roles.
We have also ramped up employment facilitation efforts through the SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package, placing more than 110,000 locals into jobs and skills opportunities as of end-April this year. To encourage local hiring, we introduced the Jobs Growth Incentive (JGI) in September 2020. Within six months it supported 42,000 employers who hired more than 270,000 new local workers.
Mdm Deputy Speaker, all these programmes are for our Singaporean Core, from the young to the old, including those with disabilities as well as ex-offenders. In fact, our efforts to support our local workforce in tackling accelerated structural changes have been commended by the International Monetary Fund. The work is, of course, never finished and we will continue to press on.
Next, I will address workplace discrimination. I can understand the anxieties that Singaporeans feel in an open and competitive labour market. But I assure you that MOM deals with workplace discrimination with utmost seriousness. We will ensure that Singaporeans are considered fairly for employment opportunities.
In my Ministerial Statement on 6 July, I elaborated extensively on how our work pass framework ensures that Singaporeans have fair access to jobs in a very dynamic labour market. However, I want to also reiterate the importance of staying and remaining open. The combination of skilled locals and a diversity of foreign expertise is a key competitive advantage for us in drawing many international companies here, creating more good jobs for Singaporeans.
Beyond nationality-based discrimination, we will and we must also tackle other types of discrimination as well, including on grounds of sex, age, religion, race and disabilities and this must happen across all phases of employment. In fact, MOM has been working on this for more than two decades, progressively stepping up our efforts.
We started with the Tripartite Guidelines on Non-Discriminatory Job Advertisements in 1999 and we formed the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices in 2006. We launched the Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices (TGFEP) in 2007, which clearly outlines the principles and the practices which employers must adopt at different stages of employment. Since 2013, we have penalised employers who do not abide by the TGFEP by suspending their work pass privileges. Ignorance is not an acceptable excuse.
The Fair Consideration Framework (FCF) was also introduced to set clear expectations of employers to consider the workforce in Singapore fairly. More recently, we have also stiffened penalties for all forms of workplace discrimination. The current approach has worked well for us thus far.
Employment outcomes for groups such as women and seniors have improved. And they are, in fact, better than in some advanced economies. If we look at the employment rate of women aged 25 to 64, it has risen steadily from about 66% in 2010 to 73% in 2020, holding steady amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Our adjusted Gender Pay Gap is also lower than in some advanced economies. TAFEP's experience has also been that most employers are cooperative in working with them to close HR gaps.
In recent years, several Members have raised the possibility of legislation to give more enforcement bite to the TGFEP and the Fair Consideration Framework (FCF). We received similar feedback through the Conversations on Singapore Women's Development.
We have never been closed to such suggestions. Legislation could give us more enforcement powers against errant employers beyond suspending work pass privileges and it can confer better protection on employees who whistle-blow. It can also send a clearer signal on what we, as a society, will not tolerate as bad behaviour on the part of employers.
However, laws alone do not guarantee better employment outcomes. We must therefore carefully study our options. We must weigh the costs and benefits and we must determine what would work best in Singapore's interest and in the Singaporean context. So, on the one hand, legislation will provide a clear premise to publicise the names of companies found to have breached the law, but on the other hand, we should also be mindful of the unintended consequences.
For example, if not properly designed, the legal framework could become overly onerous and inadvertently deter employers from setting up shop here and hiring the very groups that we seek to protect.
Nonetheless, we empathise with Singaporeans' concerns and apprehensions. So, I am therefore setting up a Tripartite Committee to examine if legislation is the best policy option to advance on the gains that we have made.
Government, union and employer representatives will deliberate thoroughly whether legislation should be pursued, taking into consideration potential ramifications. The Committee should be able to arrive at a decision on the approach that is in the best interests of workers and Singapore.
In conclusion, Mdm Deputy Speaker, Singapore has made good progress in giving opportunities to our workers and treating them fairly. Like many Members in this House, we want to build on the progress we have made. We want to work towards fairer and more progressive workplaces, while preserving our competitiveness.
Legislation has its merits. It is not a panacea and it is not a silver bullet. We need a balanced suite of measures and to not be hampered by an overly rigid framework that hurts all parties involved. Only then can we continue to give Singaporeans the best chance to get ahead and to secure their livelihoods.
Source: Hansard
