SINGAPORE, Oct 17 — Plumber Tan Zhong He knows he is good at his job. He also knows that his services are valuable — why else would people call him to fix their leaks and...
Experts said that blue collar jobs must be professionalised in order to justify wage increases and raise respect for these industries. — TODAY picSINGAPORE, Oct 17 — Plumber Tan Zhong He knows he is good at his job. He also knows that his services are valuable — why else would people call him to fix their leaks and unclog their toilets?
The issue of wage disparity between these types of workers is one that has caught the attention of the authorities, too. That year, the real median gross monthly salary for an ITE graduate was S$2,000, while that for graduates from the country’s autonomous universities stood at S$4,130, according to graduate employment surveys conducted by the institutes of higher learning.
Anna Trinh, a training lead for home cleaning service Helpling, agreed, saying that blue collar workers should be accorded the same respect and recognition as other workers. But there are those who disagree, and think that it is fair for white collar professionals to be paid much more. “Occupations where skills and credentials are essential and in which human capital takes longer to nurture, for example, professional work where training may take many years, tend to have higher remuneration because those positions are more difficult to replace.”
Artificially raising wages can also lead to perceptions of unfairness, said Dr Lim, since wages are meant to correspond to how much value society assigns to different occupations in a meritocratic society. “You’re not paying them for that 20 minutes or one hour of work. You’re paying them for the years of experience that they have gathered over the years,” he said.
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