‘Non-traditional source’ work permit holders subject to 8% quota, must earn at least S$2,000
SERVICES and manufacturing firms will be able to hire work permit holders from “non-traditional source” countries from Sep 1, but such hires must be paid at least S$2,000 a month, and cannot form more than 8 per cent of the employer’s total workforce.
This fixed monthly salary criterion and sub-dependency ratio ceiling were announced by Manpower Minister Tan See Leng on Wednesday (Mar 1) during his ministry’s Committee of Supply debate. This follows last year’s announcement of the upcoming Non-Traditional Source Occupation List.
The sub-quota guards against overreliance on such workers and ensures that employers diversify their workforce, said Dr Tan. Meanwhile, the salary requirement guards against “cheap-sourcing”, and incentivises employers to hire higher-skilled or more experienced workers.
The roles on the NTS Occupation List are commonly filled by rank-and-file S Pass holders. Once S Pass qualifying salaries are raised on Sep 1, the salaries of such workers may no longer be high enough. Yet they may not be eligible for work permits, which are restricted to workers from specific countries.
The new NTS Occupation List solves this problem. It allows services and manufacturing firms to hire work permit holders from additional countries – Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand – for seven specific occupations.
These are: cooks in Indian restaurants; food processing workers; sheet metal workers; welders and flame cutters; metal moulders and coremakers; riggers and cable splicers; and structural metal preparers and erectors.
Employers who are putting their existing non-traditional source S Pass holders on work permits will have “no trouble” meeting the S$2,000 salary criterion, said Dr Tan. The S Pass minimum qualifying salary is already S$3,000, and will rise to to S$3,150 on Sep 1.
The ministry will continue to work closely with agencies and industries to review the list of occupations “from time to time”, he added.
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