SINGAPORE: Manpower Minister Tan See Leng said on Tuesday (March 3) that several jobs across a number of industries will be work permit holders from more countries from September.
These jobs include four in food services, namely butchers and fishmongers, food or drink stall assistants, kitchen assistants and waiters; one in air transport, cabin crew; and three in social services, babysitters or infant caregivers, educarers and teacher aides.
“We will add eight new occupations to the Non-Traditional Source Occupation List (NTS-OL) from September 2026, in the areas of food services, social services, and air transportation. The NTS-OL allows businesses to hire higher-quality non-PMET workers from non-traditional source countries for specific roles with not enough locals,” Dr Tan said.
This means that later this year, workers from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Thailand may fill these roles. Typically, Malaysia, China, Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea, and Taiwan are the countries where Singapore receives workers for manufacturing and services.
Dr Tan also noted that adding the four roles to food services will allow businesses to retain workers who may not meet the higher S Pass qualifying salary.
Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced during the announcement of this year’s national Budget on Feb 12 that from 2027, the qualifying salary for S Pass holders will go up from S$3,300 to S$3,600 for new applications. The same will hold in 2028 for application renewals.
Meanwhile, the minimum qualifying salary for an Employment Pass (EP) will be increased from $5,600 to $6,000 for new applications next year, and in 2028 for renewals.
This increase will be implemented to keep pace with local wage benchmarks.
These changes show that the government’s approach is “to stay open to skills and expertise that strengthen our economy, while ensuring that Singaporeans remain firmly at the centre of our workforce and our policies,” the Prime Minister said.
The Manpower Ministry has said that the qualifying salary for S Pass holders will be about S$4,000 to S$4,500 by around 2030.
The S Pass is open to foreign employees across all nationalities or citizenships who are offered a job in Singapore and who earn a monthly salary comparable to the top one-third of the local associate professionals and technicians workforce by age. /TISG
