Maximum employment period for work permit holders lifted, employment age raised to 63

To allow companies to retain older and more experienced workers, the maximum employment period for all work permit holders will be lifted, said Manpower Minister Tan See Leng during the Committee of Supply (COS) debate in Parliament on Thursday (Mar 6).

Currently, workers who are not from Malaysia or the North Asian territories of Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea and Taiwan can be employed in Singapore for a maximum of 14 to 26 years, depending on their skill levels and industry sector.

This restriction had caused firms to let go of experienced workers "who could be at prime working age", stated Dr Tan.

Additionally, existing work permit holders will be allowed to work until 63, in line with Singapore's retirement age. Currently, they can work only till 60.

The age limit for new work permit applications will also be raised to 61.

At present, Malaysian applicants must be aged below 58 while non-Malaysian workers must be aged below 50. 

These changes take into account the recommendations made by the Alliance for Action on Business Competitiveness, and will be implemented from July 1.

Firms will soon be able to hire workers from Bhutan, Cambodia and Laos to account for industry demand, announced Dr Tan.

The three countries will be added to the Non-Traditional Sources (NTS) list from June 1. The list currently includes Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

Work permit holders from countries in the NTS list can work in the construction, marine shipyard and process sectors as well as selected occupations in the manufacturing and services sectors, including hotel housekeepers and food processing workers.

From Sept 1, the jobs of cooks, heavy vehicle drivers and manufacturing operator roles will be added to the NTS Occupation List (NTS-OL).

"As NTS-OL workers must be paid at least $2,000, this will not undermine efforts to uplift locals in these occupations," added the minister.

S Pass minimum qualifying salary to be raised

On the need for foreign talent, Dr Tan said it is not a "zero-sum game" where if one foreigner is removed, there will be one more job for a local.

Citing that the number of Employment Pass (EP) and S Pass holders had grown by 38,000 over the last decade, the minister pointed out how resident PMETs grew by 382,000, which is 10 times more.

"One in three of the increase in resident PMETs came from non PMETs upgrading to higher skilled PMET roles, with residents in their 30s to 50s forming the majority," he added.

As at 2024, there were three to six resident PMETs for every one EP or S Pass holder in these sectors.

"The same story holds even if one compares only Singapore citizens, or even local born Singapore citizens, to EP and S Pass holders," he said, stating that resident data largely mirrors citizen data as Singapore citizens have consistently made up about 84 per cent of the resident workforce.

"We should never develop a 'Singaporean only' mentality, because this would deprive us of talent needed to anchor global businesses that benefit Singaporeans."

Elaborating on the Republic's work pass framework, the minister said the minimum qualifying salary for EP holders is benchmarked to the top one-third of the local PMET wages, and it had increased from $5,000 to $5,600 on Jan 1.

Hence, the EP qualifying salary will remain unchanged at $5,600.

Meanwhile, the S Pass qualifying salary will be increased to $3,300 in 2025.

This is the third and final raise since the increase was first introduced in COS 2022. The minimum qualifying salary was raised from $2,500 to $3,000 that year, and then to $3,150 in 2023.

The qualifying salary of both the EP and S Pass will continue to increase progressively with age, and the Financial Services sector will continue to have higher qualifying salaries.

The new S Pass qualifying salary will apply to new applications from Sept 1, 2025, and to renewal applications for passes expiring from Sept 1, 2026.

The S Pass Tier 1 levy, which is a pricing mechanism to regulate the number of foreign workers, will also be increased from $550 to match the Tier 2 levy at $650 from Sept 1.

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lim.kewei@asiaone.com