A few days ago we posted the story about how a construction company had hired drivers who were foreigners but had tertiary qualifications (https://theindependent.sg.sg/graduate-indian-fts-issued-permits-to-work-as-drivers-blogger-claims/). From the information available online, it seems that construction companies hiring foreigners as drivers is common practice.
On 29 May, the website All Singapore Stuff posted about Toyah Construction & Engineering Pte Ltd, that it’s senior management comprises mostly of foreign talents. The company’s webpage where its staff were listed has since been taken down (http://www.toyah.com.sg/team_records.php). But a cached version of the page is viewable here: http://bit.ly/1TQBflu. The staff details are also viewable from their page here: http://www.toyah.com.sg/pages.php?mid=2&sid=4&ssid=.
From the staff records available here, it shows that the company has hired 2 India nationals, Rajendran Moorthy and Baskar Aravinthan, as drivers. Both of them hold a Higher School Certificate (which is certification to say that they have completed 12 years of schooling in India).
The staff records also suggest that besides Project Director and the Accountant, the remaining senior staff in the company are all nationals from India.
toyah snr staffSpeaking in Parliament on the topic, Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say said that “foreigners account for 21% of jobs within the EP salary range, which is currently $3,300” and that “that the growth of EP has also slowed down, from 32,000 in 2011 to 9,000 last year.”
Acknowledging that there was an Employment Pass (EP) concentration in some companies, in some segments of the industry and at some locations he said, “these pockets of “EP concentration” have led to the perception of liberal intake of EPs, which is not the case, or accusation of unfair consideration for locals or discrimination against our local PMETs.”
Read Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say’s speech on the topic in Parliament on 8 April 2016 here: http://bit.ly/1REzbIA.