Employee Rewards and Benefits News
Singapore announces changes to foreign worker levy
In changes that will to take effect from July 2010, Singapore has made several key adjustments to worker rights and employee benefits which will encourage sustainable growth.
The Budget Speech 2010 from the Ministry of Manpower announced changes to levy rates and levy tiers for S Pass and work permit holders that will be implemented over three years to provide companies time to adjust and invest in measures to boost productivity.
The increase in S Pass and work permit levy rates is to "better moderate employers' demand for foreign manpower and to encourage investment in productivity".
Greater differentiation in levy rates between skilled and unskilled foreign workers will "encourage companies that need foreign workers to employ better-skilled and thereby more productive ones", it was added.
No adjustment in Dependency Ratios has been made, though a higher dependency will attract higher levy rates.
This will maintain companies' access to foreign manpower while also encouraging them to reduce reliance on them, it was added.
Earlier this month, Singapore's manpower minister Gan Kim Yong announced that additional measures were on the way as a means of improving the chances of low-wage workers to upgrade skills and land improved jobs.
Posted by Jo Morgan
