By Aaron Low

LABOUR chief Lim Swee Say wants employers to change their tune and do their part in making jobs attractive for local workers.

Noting their oft-heard complaint that local workers are choosy and unwilling to put in hours, he said: 'You cannot expect the Singaporean workers to work six days a week, 12 hours a day.'

'If he were to take on that kind of job, where and when is he going to live his family life?'

So, just as workers are urged to do their best, he said employers need to ponder what they can do to 'make sure your job (is) the best that it can be'.

Ask yourself, he added: 'How can we improve the productivity of a job? How can we professionalise every job? How do we ensure that every job would offer better work-life balance?'

Mr Lim posed these questions in Parliament yesterday, in a speech where he outlined what he thought were the challenges and solutions for Singapore in the years ahead.

In his speech, Mr Lim also highlighted the advantages of the strong tripartite relationship between the Government, employers and unions.

He cited a conversation he had with union leaders, in which many of them conceded that while it was tough being a union leader here, Singapore was still the place they would choose to be one.

Their reason: The tripartite relationship allows them to make a real difference to a worker's life.

'Our job is tough but at least in Singapore, we can work with employers who are socially responsible, we can work with government (officials) who are clean and competent.'

Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong also lauded this relationship in a speech, where he addressed MPs' manpower concerns raised during the five-day debate on the President's Address.

MPs had asked what the Government was doing to help those laid off and older workers struggling to find work.

He said it was through the work of the tripartite partners that workers have benefited from programmes like the Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience (Spur) and job matching through the National Trades Union Congress' Employment and Employability Institute (e2i).

Spur has helped to keep Singapore's jobless rate low, at 3.2 per cent, despite the gross domestic product shrinking by some 10 per cent so far, said Mr Gan.

In contrast, places such as the United States, Germany and Hong Kong have unemployment rates of between 5.2 per cent and 8.5 per cent.

He also noted that job centres at community development councils and e2i have found work for about 10,500 job seekers since the start of the year.

'The strong partnership among unions, employers and the Government gives Singapore a unique advantage,' he added.

'We must continue to make conscious efforts to cultivate and strengthen this partnership.'

On older workers, Mr Gan said the Government will continue to encourage employers to recruit and retain older workers, despite the uncertain times.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.