Jobs bank advert criticised for wanting to hire malaysian citizens

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

JOBS BANK ADVERT CRITICISED FOR WANTING TO HIRE MALAYSIAN CITIZENS

Post date:
15 Apr 2015 - 12:27am








A Jobs Bank advertisement is getting flak for its requirements asking for Malaysian citizens.

The job advertisement by Innovez One, which has since been taken down, was looking for application specialists with a stated salary range of $3,500 to $4,000.
And it was also looking for Malaysian citizens.


According to the Jobs Bank website, the website "is a free service provided to all Singapore-registered companies and local individuals (Singapore Citizens and Singapore Permanent Residents)".

Also, only" local individuals (Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents) and Singapore-registered companies" are allowed to create accounts on the Jobs Bank.

However, this advertisement specifically asking for Malaysian citizens was still let through.

On the Jobs Bank FAQ, it was said that "Should you come across a job posting that contains undesirable or discriminatory content, you can report the posting by clicking the “Report this Jobs Posting” function within the posting.
"A WDA (Workforce Development Agency) officer will then investigate and remove the suspect job posting if required."

However, Jobs Bank does not detail what further actions will be taken against the company for placing such an advertisement.

Jobs Bank claimed that the aim of the website is to "reinforce expectations for employers to consider Singaporeans fairly for job opportunities".

The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) also said that it will "identify firms that may have scope to improve their hiring and career development practices" and "may impose additional requirements" on them, or get them to be subjected to "longer review period for their EP applications," or that they "may also have their work pass privileges curtailed".







But herein lies the problem. All these are empty promises that the government makes. Under the Jobs Bank's FAQ, there are no further details on how firms which transgresses the rules will be dealt with.

Specifically, there are not even rules in place.

MOM spells out what it "may" do but no where is such potential measures to curb the unfair hiring practices of companies made into a legislation.

As such, it is no wonder that companies do not seem to take the Jobs Bank seriously. This is not the first time that an advertisement of such nature has been discovered.

A common criticism has been that the Jobs Bank website and the accompanying Fair Consideration Framework lacks teeth because of the lack of enforced legislation.

This latest advertisement continues to expose the flaw in policy. There has been continued voices among Singaporeans to enact a legislation to protect the employment of Singaporeans but the government has been resistant to do so. This is even so Singapore already has one the least employment protection policies for Singaporeans, among the developed countries.

The criticism has also been levied against the government, where the common complaint is that because the government is also involved in businesses, it is more concerned about ensuring profits, and is thus not keen in enacting legislation to protect Singaporeans.

However, if this is the case where the employment of Singaporeans cannot be protected because of a government which has conflicting interests and which refuse to enact adequate legislation to protect Singaporeans, the continued exposure of Singaporeans to such unfair hiring practices can put Singaporeans at risk.


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