IT MUST be tough for the authorities to figure out a suitable manpower-deployment system, especially with regard to the complex issue of local businesses hiring foreign workers to increase their profits.

Singapore citizens find it difficult to comprehend that foreigners can come to our country so easily with prospects of employment ahead of them, while they remain jobless during the current economic recession.

The reason for local workers shunning many service jobs, despite vacancies, boils down to pure economics.

Most service jobs pay close to $1,000 a month and, after Central Provident Fund deductions, a take-home pay of around $800 is left.

If a worker is the main breadwinner in a family of four, this is insufficient, even after the Government gives a payout to low-wage workers under the Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) Scheme.

Though the WIS helps, the escalating cost of living does not allow the breadwinner to save up for a rainy day on such a meagre salary.

Employers in labour-intensive industries need to ask themselves if it is still feasible to hire cheap labour to make a profit.

I have seen the number of small cleaning companies mushroom, with some bidding so low for cleaning projects that they could not pay a decent salary without suffering a loss.

The authorities may need to curb the number of industries that depend on cheap labour. Dependence on labour-intensive industries also contradicts our country's aim to be an industrial high-tech nation.

In Australia, where I am based, many blue-collar jobs offer a chance for Australians to earn a decent wage.

The construction sector, for example, hires mostly Australians. An apprentice can be paid a salary of $3,000 a month, before taxes.

The implementation of aminimum- wage policy and skills-training courses allow these workers to be adequately compensated for the menial work they do.

Blue-collar workers can command a salary on a par with that for white-collar jobs, due to the niche skills such jobs require and their harsh working environments, which cause many locals to shun them.

There is no easy back door by way of hiring cheap foreign workers in Australia.

Singapore employers should increasingly look at mechanising work flow to lessen their dependence on labour.

I have seen an Australian truck driver empty rubbish bins with just two people on the labour team. It is done only once a week on Monday, and people are civic-minded enough to place their rubbish properly in bins for the rest of the week.

Yet, in Singapore, I have seen a team of 20 foreign workers line the road during road works, with half practically standing around. This is not the best way to deploy manpower, even if it is cheap.

More can be done to streamline operations so that we depend less on cheap labour.

Local workers can then be better compensated when they take on better-valued jobs. Productivity is also raised.

The current dependence on cheap foreign labour will not bear fruit, if we want to advance our economy in a very competitive environment.

Mr Gilbert Goh Keow Wah

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