Hougang-Aljuined MP Chen Show Mao faced a volley of questions in Parliament on Tuesday over the Worker’s Party’s ‘5.9 million instead of 6.9 million’ projection for Singapore’s population.
Entering into the current hot topic debate over the White Paper, Chen said that the Worker’s Party did not agree with the recommendations of the Paper.
Instead, he urged the government to encourage more Singaporeans to join the workforce. Citing labour statistics that 1.06 million Singaporeans were not working in 2012, Chen said that the emphasis should be on getting this group of people to re-enter the workforce – and not bringing in more foreign labour.
MOS for Manpower Tan Chuan Jin reminded Chen that the Paper’s 6.9 million number was a ‘projection, not a target’ and that boundaries had been clearly spelled out, which, unlike WP’s proposal, had concrete ideas and initiatives to provide support for Singaporeans. Full story
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