NTU wrong, 9 in 10 new jobs went to S'poreans
-
Let's do a re-visit of what Ng Eng Hen said back in 2003. First, the headlines, says "9 in 10 jobs went to Singaporeans" but if you read the article, it actually meant "to Singaporeans and PRs". Then now we must question why do we see so many foreign faces around after 8 years since so many jobs went to Singaporeans and PRs? The only answer can be.....PRs are also considered foreigners and many of the jobs must have gone to them.
Today you are young and you have the earning power. Tomorrow when you're highly paid and older, your market value suddenly plummets because of these PRs. So think wisely if you think PAP is serious about change.
______________________________________________________
NTU wrong, 9 in 10 new jobs went to S'poreans
by Sue-Ann Chia
ACTING Manpower Minister Ng Eng Hen said yesterday that Nanyang Technological
University (NTU) economists were way off the mark by claiming that most new jobs
created in the past five years had gone to foreigners.
The economists had said that three in four jobs had gone to foreigners, but the minister revealed that, in fact, nine in 10 new jobs went to Singaporeans and residents, and only one went to a foreigner.
He called a press briefing yesterday, after the findings by the NTU team,
comprising former National Wages Council chairman Lim Chong Yah, Dr Tan Khee
Giap and Dr Chen Kang, were reported in the media.
Dr Ng said he was disappointed by their report and did not mince his words when
he criticised them for failing to verify their figures with his ministry or the
Department of Statistics before going public with 'sensationalistic' claims.
Researchers were duty-bound to check, he said, adding: 'If your findings show
something different or if it stands out, you want to be careful not to be
sensationalist even if your figures are right.
'But if your figures are wrong, it is irresponsible: It is unprofessional to
put out those figures and then when the damage is done, to expect others to
check those findings.'
He also made public another set of government figures, some released for the
first time.
Between the high-growth years of 1992 and 1997, there were 474,800 new jobs
created - almost double the 250,000 figure cited by the NTU team. For every five
jobs created, two went to residents and three to foreigners - quite different
from the NTU team's claim that four jobs went to residents and one to a
foreigner.
Then, during the downturn from 1997 to 2002, only 102,000 jobs were created, Dr
Ng said, not 187,000 as claimed in the NTU report.
During that period, nine in 10 new jobs went to residents, and only one to a
foreigner - again, a reversal of the NTU team's claim.
The economists called for a re-look at Singapore's dependence on foreigners,
but Dr Ng defended the Government's foreign worker policy.
'As we look at our figures, our policies are correctly crafted,' he said.
'Foreign workers serve as a useful buffer. In good times, when there are
plentiful jobs, they serve to meet the demand. In difficult times, they serve to
moderate wages and increase the economic pie.'
Yesterday, the NTU economists stood by their findings.
In a statement signed only by Dr Tan and Dr Chen, they said they had studied
statistics available in the Manpower Ministry's website.
'If our findings are not reflective of the actual situation, then the Ministry
of Manpower has a duty to revise its statistics on the website,' they said.
'As professional economists who take a committed interest in the well-being of
Singapore, we have never been sensational and will always be professional in our
work.'
They also said that the figures revealed by the minister yesterday came from
sources they did not have access to.
But ministry officials called a second press briefing yesterday evening and
insisted that there was no way a properly conducted study of available data
could have arrived at the NTU team's conclusions.
'Data in the public domain clearly provides an entirely different picture if
used correctly,' said Ms Elizabeth Quah, director of the manpower policy and
planning division.
She said the ministry was disappointed that the NTU economists refused to meet
officials yesterday to explain their methodology and data sources.
But as the issue was of 'great concern and interest to the public, especially
in this difficult employment market', the ministry felt it was best to explain
how the discrepancies could have arisen.
Mrs Tan Leng Leng, director of manpower research and statistics, said the
figures used by the NTU economists missed two factors: the construction industry
and Malaysians who commute to Singapore to work.
Another figure, which should have set off 'alarm bells', was the low increase
in residents' employment, which the NTU report put at only 46,100 for the last
five years.
As a general rule of thumb, about 30,000 people join the workforce each year -
after deducting those who retire, stop working or are retrenched. Multiply that
by five years and the total should be 150,000.
What it all added up to, Ms Quah said, was that the NTU findings were 'totally
flawed'.
'It is important for the public to understand the true picture and why the NTU
team is wrong,' she said. -
Try calling any telco customer service, or in fact, any customer service of any corporation.
Try dining in at any cafe or restaurant, or shop at any retail outlets.
And then try rebutting the figures.
-
do they really expect citizen to believe 9 out of 10 jobs went to singaporeans?
if its true they what are all the foreigners doing in singapore?
they come here and look see look see without a job to feed themselves?
-
A leopard doesn't change it's spots.
Still unrepentant, instead of really helping citizens, PAPist still trying to fool people.
Hopeless. Sinkapore gone case liao.
-
Singaporeans and PRs also consider as SINGAPOREAN.
What is this BS report about?
PR not interested to become SINGAPOREAN - only here to grab money.
Still remember Zhang Yuan Yuan!
-
im sure he is referring to the aunties washing dishes, wiping tables are kopitiams
-
I go everywhere also see foreigners esp PRC chinese.
-
All things appear and disappear because of the concurrence of causes and conditions. Nothing ever exists entirely alone; everything is in relation to everything else.
-
Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.
Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.
-
in fact, we need more of such external and independent reviews on findings not just on manpower which was found flawed...and also across all fields...particularly on gender policies and statistics...
-
the gender policies were not accurately tuned in line with the changing times...
-
Too general, 9 out of 10....what sectors?
-
There is no need to argue about this. I believe that NTU is right when talking about employment within a scope. NTU know how much foreign talent they produce every year.
Yesterday, I am coming back home from NTU. There are just a swarm of PRC who graduated and talking about job on 179 bus.
We are not blind or deaf. We can "see" that foreigners are around. They need to have a job. I dont believe they are all tourists.
So can PAP stop living in a castle in the air, and come to the ground. Stop tweaking the datas around, it does not help to change the facts that we can "see" everyday.
It gets more worrying, when the office upstairs are tweaking data, or worse, having wrong data to analyse. This end up a complete screwed path.
-
Originally posted by Lokey:
There is no need to argue about this. I believe that NTU is right when talking about employment within a scope. NTU know how much foreign talent they produce every year.
Yesterday, I am coming back home from NTU. There are just a swarm of PRC who graduated and talking about job on 179 bus.
We are not blind or deaf. We can "see" that foreigners are around. They need to have a job. I dont believe they are all tourists.
So can PAP stop living in a castle in the air, and come to the ground. Stop tweaking the datas around, it does not help to change the facts that we can "see" everyday.
It gets more worrying, when the office upstairs are tweaking data, or worse, having wrong data to analyse. This end up a complete screwed path.
They think Singaporeans are blind to what is happening.
Haiz.