PSP's Hazel Poa, Manpower Minister Tan See Leng debate jobs created for locals

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I don't know about u, but there's some very sharp observation here! GASP!

Ms Poa argued that a portion of the jobs Dr Tan said had been created in the past 15 years could have been due to the "reclassification" of permanent residents (PRs) who became citizens and foreign workers who became PRs, and were not actually new jobs.

Ms Poa presented a scenario where 1,000 foreigners holding PME jobs obtained PR status, causing the 1,000 jobs to now be classified as a growth in local jobs despite no actual increase taking place.

which were actual jobs created and which were due to the "technicalities" of a job holder's status being reclassified

he PRs become citizens, so there's a drop in the PRs, and then the new foreigners go in to fill up that PR numbers. So as a whole, the number of citizens plus PRs actually increases. That base increases, and therefore leading to an increase in the number of local PME jobs purely due to reclassification, not job creation.

Qns: 

1. How reliable are statistics as a guide for planning the future? (Cam. 2020)

2. Discuss the view that too much faith is placed in statistics. (Cam. 2008)

3. Statistics measure everything but prove nothing. Discuss. (Cam. 2003)