SINGAPORE PAYING FIRMS TO KEEP JOBS - The scale of job losses over the next two years is a tsunami and must be minimised, says Dr Paul Duffy, President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ireland. He was speaking to about 100 US company representatives in Dublin last night.
Mr Duffy is vice president of manufacturing for Pfizer in Ireland and in Singapore.
In his speech, Mr Duffy also said we could not keep increasing taxes, and had to tackle the two big areas of spending - public sector pay and social welfare.
He said Singapore had a job credit scheme, which is a financial payment to companies which keep people employed. Mr Duffy said Pfizer was receiving a cash payment from the Singapore government for each person it kept in employment this year.
He said Singapore had managed its public finances well and had the money to do this. Mr Duffy said Ireland may not be able to introduce the same scheme, but we were spending money in the areas of training and social welfare which could be spent keeping people in jobs.
