THE labour movement yesterday held up the changes in the security sector as an example of how low paying jobs in other parts of the economy can be revamped and upgraded.
Security jobs now offer better career prospects and pay - of between $1,300 and $1,600 a month, up from $800 to $900 previously.
And it is drawing more Singaporeans, including officers like Ms Norfaizah Said, 32, into its fold.
'The private security sector gives us hope that it can be done, because what we've achieved over the last three years, it's been quite amazing,' labour chief Lim Swee Say said yesterday.
From a sector previously seen as offering low-paying jobs, it had been transformed into one where better skills and professionalism are required.
As former police officer Ms Norfaizah herself noted, her job is 'challenging'.
'It's not just about enforcing the law... We have to meet the needs of our clients, who may want a range of security services, from patrolling to using technology to keep the premises safe,' she said.
Mr Lim hopes similar revamps in other sectors will draw more Singaporeans, especially older workers and women, back into the workforce and create wider opportunities including for contract and lower-skilled employees.
'What we are hoping to see this year and in the coming years is more job sectors going through this process of job re-creation,' he said at the opening of the Union of Security Employees' new Waterloo Street premises.
He described creating jobs, keeping unemployment low, and ensuring strong economic growth as key targets for the labour movement this year.
After all, sufficient jobs, coupled with a growing economy is Singapore's way of coping with the global challenge of high living costs, said Mr Lim, who is Minister in the Prime Minister's Office.
Pointing to the more competitive international environment and higher cost of food and fuel prices, he said these were realities that Singaporeans would have to learn to live with.
'Different countries respond differently,' he said. But Singapore's approach was clear: Focus on economic development.
'The day we lose our economic competitiveness, then the problem is no longer about inflation. The problem is much worse than that because there will be no jobs. There will be a softening of the labour market and there will be lower pay,' he said.
The aim is to be able to maintain sparkling growth - the economy grew 7.5 per cent last year and the unemployment rate was at an all-time low of 1.7 per cent.
At yesterday's event, Union of Security Employees president N.Silva said the sector's growth meant that it was no longer seen as a 'lazy man's job' or one that people turned to only when they could not find employment elsewhere.
The union has some 4,200 members today, up from 900 four years ago. One in four are 35 years old and below.
The security sector has been part of the labour movement's job recreation programme (JRP), which was launched three years ago.
Some 12,000 jobs, in cleaning and gardening for instance, were redesigned in 2006.
This year, the NTUC will also aim to get more needy workers on the Workfare Income Supplement scheme for older people earning $1,500 at most, said Mr Lim.
This includes security officers. Union leaders had pointed out that many of them work overtime to boost their salaries. But in doing so, they exceed the scheme's $1,500 salary cap.
Said Mr Lim: 'As a labour movement we feel quite strongly, that something ought to be done to take into consideration the working duration.'
