TO strengthen enforcement of fair employment, large contracts or tenders could impose a duty of care on the purchasing company, and licensing could be introduced for human resource managers, said Progress Singapore Party (PSP) Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) Hazel Poa in Parliament on Tuesday.

Ms Poa, who had filed a motion on foreign worker policy together with fellow PSP NCMP Leong Mun Wai, also questioned government figures on new local professionals, managers, executives and technician (PMET) jobs.

Citing an earlier figure that from 2005 to 2020 some 380,000 local PMET jobs were created, Ms Poa said that a portion of this could be due to reclassification - as a result of Permanent Residents (PRs) becoming citizens, and foreigners become PRs.

For instance, if 1,000 foreign PMETs become PRs, then those 1,000 jobs are now classified as local PMET jobs, even though there is no increase of jobs per se, she said.

She noted that with about 20,000 new citizens on average each year, this would mean 300,000 over 15 years. While not all of them hold PMET jobs, it still suggests that "a significant portion" of the rise could be due to a change in the status of the job holders, not the creation of new jobs, she said.

She asked the Manpower Ministry to clarify if this change of status is accounted for in their figures.

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On ensuring fair employment, Ms Poa noted various ways that employers might circumvent the rules, for instance via subcontracting.

She suggested two ways to strengthen enforcement. First, for large contracts or tenders, "a certain level of duty of care" could be imposed - for instance, including audit requirements on successful tenderers to ensure compliance with manpower policies.

Second, the government could explore the licensing of human resource managers. Large-sized employers should be required to hire licensed human resource managers, who would be personally responsible for ensuring compliance with manpower regulations, she said.

While the PSP agrees that staying open to foreign manpower is beneficial, it is calling for the foreign manpower level to be reduced, while keeping an eye on wage growth, she said.