Letters: Government Must Step Up Enforcement of this National Disgrace It Calls “Jobs Bank”

FRED LOH: Hi, you should be familiar with the Jobs Bank. To be brief about this, the Jobs Bank is a portal for companies to hire Singaporeans first. So before companies hire foreigners, they have to put up their job vacancy on the Jobs Banks, and can only hire foreigners if there’s no suitable Singaporean for the job.

But the problem from what my HR friends tell me is that this is all a show. It’s a half-hearted attempt by companies to con us and the government into thinking they’re serious about hiring Singaporeans first.

How they bend the rules is just put a post up on the Jobs Bank portal with a “higher” set of requirements, then just reject the Singaporeans who apply. Then, call up the “foreign talent” and offer them a job and apply for their work permit with MOM. Even if MOM requires an appeal to be made, these companies can just say that there were “no suitable” locals for the job. Even if it goes to second appeal, the company’s HR can show that the did interview Singaporeans but found “no suitable” locals.

At the end of the day, it’s too easy to get around the rules to hire cheaper foreign labour. The Jobs Bank has been touted as the way to make sure Singaporeans get hired first. If that’s the case, then the government should make sure this really done, and not just cui gong ga kee song, loo gong loo song (Ed’s translation: mouth talk, ownself happy, the more you talk, the happier you become).

Thanks Fred for this letter.
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