A few days ago, in the newspaper, it reported that the lowest ratio of Locals to Foreign Talent was in the banking sector with the 70% Locals. Citibank, Standard Chartered Bank, DBS etc. were the ones named.
Look Again!!! 70% of the workers hired in the Banking Industry are "Local". What does this really tell you?
To me, they are hiding some of the details:
1) At what percentage of Singaporeans are there at the management level?
2) How much of this 70% is made up of Citizens and how much is PRs?
All along, the above statistics are not made known to us! We should demand the government to give us an answer.
I will deliberate more on point number 2 – How many Singaporeans are there compared to PRs in the Banking Industry.
Personally, and i think most will agree, I observed that the banking industries is full of Indians, Pinoys and other nationalities. We would hardly see any Singaporeans when we go into the banks. (I say Singaporeans have becomes a minority in the industry).
They have categorised Singaporean and PR together to let us know they indeed employ locals. But Hey!!! We would like to see more data! What is the real ratio of True Blue Native Singaporean vs others. After all, PRs are foreigners too!
In my speech at the press conference for the May Day Protest in Hong Lim Park organised by Gilbert Goh, I had also talked about the issue:
Press conference after May Day Protest at Hong Lim Park
(If you are interested to hear it, jump to 25:00)
Workers on Employment Pass (EP) are not counted in the Foreign quota, and when foreigners become PR, the foreign quota for the company will increase.
Thus, this will enable the company to bring in more foreigners to Singapore instead of looking locally for a suitable candidate. This is especially true if the company is headed or managed by a certain nationality.
Even Acting Minister for Manpower, Tan Chuan-Jin, had acknowledge that workplace discrimination against Singaporeans does occur. They are now focusing more on fair employment practices by TAFEP.
It is time that PRs should be separated from Singaporeans when counting 'locals' and increasing the foreign quota. Singaporeans should be allocated at least 60% for companies instead of 70% inclusive of PRs. I hope that Acting Minister for Manpower Tan Chuan-Jin would seriously consider implementing the suggestion of separating PR from the local workforce. This will give Singaporeans a fair chance in the industry.
New Bird
*Article first appeared on http://mrnewbird.wordpress.com/2013/06/07/how-many-singaporean-in-the-banking-industry/