Oral Answer by Mr Zaqy Mohamad Minister of State for Manpower to Parliamentary Question on FCWDS and Change of Employer Policy

NOTICE PAPER NO. 1583 OF 2019 FOR A SITTING ON OR AFTER 7 MAR 2019 

QUESTION NO. 2686 FOR ORAL ANSWER

MP: Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang

To ask the Minister for Manpower whether the Ministry will consider (i) expanding the Foreign Construction Worker Directory (FCWD) System to other sectors such as the cleaning sector and (ii) incorporating the FCWD portal on mobile applications targeted at foreign workers.  

Answer

1. The Foreign Construction Worker Directory System (FCWDS) was set up in 2015 by the Singapore Contractors Association Limited (SCAL) to facilitate job matching between employers and foreign workers in the Construction sector. The Construction industry finds it useful to develop the FCWDS to flexibly redeploy workers across companies given that the work is cyclical and mainly project-based. 

2. We have not come across another industry which has expressed interest to set up a similar directory.

3. The FCWDS has been incorporated into a third-party mobile app owned by the private sector, called the FWapp, to improve its accessibility to foreign construction workers.