Wages can be raised through productivity: PM Lee

Higher wages can push up business costs, affecting competitiveness and may cause higher inflation, warned Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

In order to sustain better wages and higher living standards, productivity among workers must be raised.

Mr Lee said that raising productivity is "more important than ever in our mature economy, because it is the only way to upgrade ourselves and our lives."

In his May Day message, the prime minister also urged every worker, whether rank-and-file or Professionals, Managers, Executives and Technicians (PMETs), to continue to upgrade and master new skills.

"Raising our productivity will benefit workers, firms, and our economy as a whole. Workers can earn more in higher-quality jobs.

"Firms can prosper and expand their businesses here. Our economy can continue to thrive despite more intense global competition," said Mr Lee.

Looking ahead, Mr Lee said that Singaporeans must prepare for a more challenging economic environment, as globalisation has shortened economic cycles, and ups and downs happen much faster, with less warning.

The prime minister's message is the latest to come from employers and politicians over a highly debated suggestion on raising wages substantially.

PMETs still vulnerable to layoffs

SINGAPORE - Professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) remain vulnerable to layoffs, according to a report released by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) yesterday.

Among occupational groups, PMETs were the second-most vulnerable, after those holding production jobs.

The third-most vulnerable group were those in clerical and sales positions.

Last year, about 4,170 PMETs were made redundant - retrenched or released early from contract - up from 3,450 in 2010.

Overall, some 9,990 workers were laid off last year. Due to a rise in layoffs in the fourth quarter last year, the number of employees made redundant was higher than the 9,800 in 2010.

Still, against a larger employment base last year, the rate of redundancies - at 5.5 workers for every 1,000 employees - continued to decline from 5.7 in 2010. Last year's rate is the lowest since 1998, when MOM first released the annual Redundancy And Re-entry Into Employment report.

Mr David Ang, executive director of the Singapore Human Resources Institute, said that the rise in the number of PMETs displaced last year could be attributed to restructuring among companies in sectors such as manufacturing and services.

"Sometimes, companies merge or streamline their operations and, in the process, employees working in jobs like sales and marketing may end up losing their jobs," he told my paper.

"There may not be space for these employees, who used to hold positions that have now been combined with those in other departments or removed totally."

This was reflected in the report, which cited restructuring for greater efficiency and increased labour costs as the two main reasons for redundancies.

Workers in the manufacturing sector continued to be the most susceptible to redundancies. About 11 employees were laid off for every 1,000 of such workers last year.

This was drastically higher as compared to the 3.8 per 1,000 workers laid off in the services sector, and the 4.2 workers laid off for every 1,000 in the construction sector over the same period.

Meanwhile, the rate of re-entry into employment for workers who were laid off last year improved for the second straight year.

The report showed that 70 per cent of workers - or seven in 10 - who were made redundant in the first three quarters of last year had managed to secure employment again by December.

This was an improvement over the 66 per cent figure for the previous cohort in 2010, and 65 per cent for the 2009 cohort.

On average, it took just over two months for these workers to land new jobs last year.

Younger employees, and those laid off from clerical, sales and service jobs, took the shortest time to clinch new jobs.