'Hard when Singaporeans are choosy.'

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Our low-end jobs (cleaners, food and beverage service, etc) are paid so called ‘market rates’ but nonetheless suppressed ‘immigrant level’ wages. Civil servants wouldn’t take on such jobs either.

Now if we were to pay cleaners and food & beverage workers civil servants’ level of pay, see if you would hear them complain that ‘it’s too far away’ or if ‘the job scope is unacceptable’.

As long as our immigration policies allow immigrants to fill these jobs, wages will continue to be suppressed and citizens would continue to be deemed choosy.

Do you think Singaporeans are more choosy than Western Europeans?

Well, in a number of Western European countries, a cleaner's job or a food & beverage industry job would likely be quickly snapped up these days (by their citizens, not immigrants, especially if those jobs are unionized). Why? Answer it yourself (to both the writers of these two letters).

Our immigration policies have allowed employers the easy way out. Try to find a (Western) European to do these jobs and at such wages and see if they would come. So it’s not only Singaporeans who are choosy.

In other words, pay Singaporean wages and you'd find Singaporean workers. Pay Bangladeshi or PRC wages and you'll find Bangladeshis and PRC workers.

You can safely say that Singaporeans wouldn’t be choosy if an affluent Western European country were to offer similar jobs to them.

Like another contributor to this DB asked recently, why do you find Australians working in the Australian construction industry? (Or why do you find only those from the Indian sub-continent (but not Australians) working in our construction industry?)

"But if Singaporeans do not accept our job offers…"

If you'd had included the offered salary and other terms in your letter I am sure there's a rational explanation for the lack of applicants.

- A few years ago I visited a company i Jurong and noticed a group of foreign workers filling up bags with product. I asked the plant manager. How come you haven't automated that process yet? The answer was. "Why would I do that? These workers are so cheap, much cheaper as a machine".

- Not so long ago I watched a program on Discovery Channel or the likes about the construction of a tunnel in Switzerland. The salary of the construction workers was said to be EURO 4000 / month for 40 hours. Although the work was not exactly pleasant the team was entirely made up of Europeans.

Attracting Singaporeans is in fact very easy, as long as you pay decent wages, but that's precisely where the problem lies.

I understand that employers are telling their HR departments to employ foreigners through an unwritten decree.

So how can Singaporeans stand a chance in getting a job? The employment figures are reflective of foreigners and not locals.

So listen to what Singaporeans are saying...the pay is too low!!! Does the HR dept not know that salaries will influence people to work.

Maybe they should benchmark with their other staff like management's bonus only. Its all about demand and supply. So please give right salary and will get your workers. Its a no-brainer!

for 40 to 50 years, S'poreans were not "choosy"....then suddenly we are termed "choosy".

the govt fed companies here heroin (ie. cheap foreign labour) for the past few years. Now that these companies have become addicted, the govt is now blaming S'poreans for the addiction!!!

usual excuse is S'poreans are choosy

It is a matter of pay versus the nature of the job.

The F&B and cleaning sectors were fed with cocaine in the past years, that they lost touch with the real world.

PAY UP

One reason for our low female labour participation rate is that they are crowed out by the cheap foreign workers.

these employers are just trying to pressurise the authority to raise the quota for hiring more F/Talent by complaining that Singaporean are choosy. I have a female friend wrking as a cleaner who was promised a $750 . she ended up recieving $300 on a AD-HOC basis with no annual leave , no CPF. no bonus N suka suka slalary. until now the employer still owe her of more than $1.5k. The relevant authority cannot do anything for these local Singaporean. She has left this job n went searching for a cleaner job , but every time went home wif the interviewer telling to wait for phone call. She is a singaporean ,asking for a job of $7-850 a mth but rejected. She is only 40years old .SO ,,,CAN U TELL ME THAT SINGAPOREAN ARE CHOOSY? PAYING THE LOCALS WITH A CUT THROAT SALARY N STILL GRUMBLE