Why labour mobility may be difficult

At a tripartite dialogue Lim Swee Say cautioned businesses against depressing wages.
He pointed out that workers could and would change employers if their wages fall below the market rate.  In reality, however, labour mobility remains a luxury, not a given. For one thing, unskilled and low-skilled elderly workers do not have the bargaining power. Foreign workers constitute another group who can ill afford to walk out on their bosses. Also, the current work permit system allows foreign workers to work only for the employer stated on their work permits.
Labour mobility thus rings hollow in the absence of stronger enforcement measures and reforms to the work permit system.
Ong Yanchun (Ms)