Singapore may tighten controls on foreign execs

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http://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/singapore-may-tighten-controls-foreign-execs-amid-bias-080501172--sector.html

Alleged bias against locals accounted for half of the employment-related complaints received in Singapore last year, in another sign that the city-state may scrutinise more closely firms which are hiring foreigners to fill higher-paying jobs.

The data provided to Reuters by the Tripartite Alliance for Fair Employment Practices (TAFEP) comes amid growing unhappiness among Singaporeans about the surge in foreigners over the past decade.

Liang Eng Hwa, a member of Parliament who is also a managing director at DBS Group, questioned the large number of foreigners holding managerial positions in areas such as human resources, auditing and general administration -- skills that should be relatively easy to find in Singapore.

TAFEP is a body backed by the Ministry of Manpower and tasked with ensuring fair work practices in the small island-state, which as a global financial, business and transport hub attracts hundreds of thousands of higher-paid foreign workers.

The increased vetting of applications to hire skilled foreigners -- typically those earning more than S$3,000 ($2,400) a month. Such hires are exempt from the levies imposed on firms recruiting lower-cost workers.

The Ministry of Manpower said in a separate reply to Reuters that TAFEP will refer unresponsive employers to the ministry, which will in turn curtail work pass privileges of firms that did not heed its advice.

TAFEP earlier this week published advertisements in local newspapers saying it had met senior management at some financial firms after it got feedback that some supervisors preferred to hire their own countrymen over Singaporeans.

"A few firms acknowledged that certain departments did seem to have "hot spots" where clusters of employees from the same country appeared to have developed over time," the advertisements said, although TAFEP also cited an example of a complaint that was not justified.

In Hong Kong, employers wanting to hire a foreigner must provide proof that the job cannot be readily taken up by the local work force. Employers must also provide remuneration packages that are in line with the prevailing market standards in -- a condition that makes it harder for firms to replace local managers with lower-cost replacements.