Sometimes I wonder if it is worth bothering to ask our Ministers questions. I have to have a supercomputer and a non-deterministic polynomial solution parallel language parser to understand what he is saying. Here is an extract of the proceedings of the last Parliamentary sitting.

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Ms Sylvia Lim: To ask the Minister for Manpower what are the reasons for the manufacturing sector shedding 4,600 local jobs while adding 24,100 foreign jobs in the year 2008.

Mr Gan Kim Yong:
In 2008, total employment in manufacturing grew by 19,500. The growth came largely in the earlier part of the year. Although some companies had cut their headcount, others were still growing and expanding. Given the tight labour market then with record local employment rate of 77.0%, manufacturing companies which were still growing had to recruit foreign manpower to meet their needs. However, as the economic downturn deepened, both foreign and local employment in manufacturing fell towards the end of the year. Job losses in the manufacturing sector were more than offset by jobs created in other sectors as overall local employment grew by 64,700 in 2008.
The introduction of schemes such as the Jobs Credit and Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience (SPUR) launched in December 2008, have helped companies save jobs for local workers and upgrade their skills during the recession. Workers from manufacturing companies account for nearly half of all trainees committed to SPUR training.
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So Mr. Minister, to summarise, when times are good we hire foreigners. When times are bad we retrench both foreigners and Singaporeans. Therefore, the proposition by the government that foreigners serve as a buffer during difficult economic times is false?

Would anyone have a follow-up question for the Minister?