SINGAPORE: The Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (HOME) has disputed the Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM) latest survey on migrant workers, raising concerns about the transparency of how it was conducted.
According to MOM’s Migrant Worker Experience and Employer Survey 2024, released on 21 August, 95.3 per cent of migrant workers reported being satisfied with working and living in Singapore, compared with 86.3 per cent in 2018.
This marks the highest satisfaction level since the survey was first conducted in 2011.
A total of 2,825 migrant workers were interviewed between October 2023 and February 2024, MOM said.
HOME Raises Concerns on Survey Methodology
HOME questioned the validity of the findings, arguing that MOM omitted crucial details about the survey process.
It was unclear how participants were selected, who conducted the interviews, or where they took place.
The NGO also highlighted the absence of demographic information such as workers’ gender, nationality, occupation, or length of stay in Singapore.
It argued that these factors significantly influence workers’ experiences, and generalising results without them risks producing a skewed picture.
As an example, HOME said a Malaysian cook with 10 years of experience in Singapore would face very different challenges from a newly arrived Bangladeshi construction worker.
The group added that the survey relied heavily on subjective concepts such as “satisfaction”, “preference”, “high salary”, and “safe” without defining them.
At the same time, it overlooked objective indicators such as working hours, wages, experiences of wage theft (including deductions and kickbacks), and recruitment fees.
It also remains unclear whether respondents were allowed to give open-ended answers, which HOME argued would provide a more authentic snapshot of their lived realities.
Casework Data Shows Different Picture
Drawing from its own casework, HOME said it assisted nearly 1,200 migrant workers in 2024—almost double the 647 cases it handled in 2018, when MOM last conducted a similar survey.
Based on its experience, the NGO said migrant workers in construction, marine, and services sectors frequently face issues such as wage theft, recruitment debts, low pay, work injuries, lack of proper upkeep, employment disputes, and barriers to justice—challenges that were not captured in MOM’s report.
Beyond transparency concerns, HOME also responded to specific findings.
MOM’s survey reported that 80.2 per cent of workers would choose to stay with their current employer.
HOME said this figure ignores the reality that migrant workers have limited job mobility and often carry heavy recruitment debts.
The group noted that transfers require approval from either employers or MOM, and workers seeking new jobs are often asked to pay additional fees.
HOME also highlighted MOM’s finding that 31 per cent of workers said their passports were held by employers or supervisors.
The NGO said this represents a serious breach of the Passports Act and is a potential indicator of forced labour or trafficking risks.
Questions were further raised over In-Principle Approval (IPA) documents.
While 91.5 per cent of respondents reported receiving the salaries stated in their IPAs, HOME argued this figure ignores manipulative practices such as unpaid overtime, inflated allowances, or kickbacks.
Call for Rigorous and Transparent Surveys
The NGO added that IPAs are often not translated into workers’ native languages.
In its experience, non-domestic Myanmar workers typically receive IPAs only in English, making it difficult for them to fully understand their employment conditions.
While acknowledging MOM’s effort to better understand migrant workers’ experiences, HOME warned that generalised findings risk creating complacency and hindering stronger labour protections.
The group urged MOM to make future surveys more rigorous and transparent, emphasising the need for a more critical analysis of the lived experiences of migrant workers.
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