I AGREE with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's call for Singaporeans to compete on their merits and contributions to secure jobs ("Hard-headed, never hard-hearted"; Sunday). However, it would be hard for them to do so because of differences in the value of their wages.
A foreign professional, manager, executive or technician (PMET) may be able to accept a salary that is two-thirds of what a Singaporean earns, as he is here on his own. Because of the strong Singapore dollar, every dollar he earns here will be worth much more in his home country.
In contrast, a Singaporean earning the same salary would be hard-pressed to pay for his family's upkeep.
Take the case of a foreign PMET earning $2,000 a month and a Singaporean earning $3,000. If both spend $1,200 a month on renting a room, transport, meals and so on, the foreigner will have $800 left to send to his family back in his homeland, and the Singaporean will have $1,800.
The foreigner's family may be able to live comfortably on $800, while the Singaporean family will find it hard to get by on just $1,800.
Schemes like the Workfare Income Supplement go some way towards addressing the income inequality for low-wage earners, but the plight of PMETs has not been resolved.
Perhaps the authorities could consider raising the tax rate for foreign PMETs, to level the playing field and ensure the Singaporean PMET is not seen to be too costly to hire.
Colin Loh
*Article first appeared on ST Forums (8 Oct 2014)