SINGAPORE — One of the toughest balancing acts that successive Singapore’s leaders have had to manage over the decades is to bring in foreign talent to the city-state while mitigating the inevitable tensions that come with it.
The Big Read : Confronting Singapore's need for foreign manpower and talent, amid its ageing and shrinking workforce
This raises the question of what more can be done, including whether there needs to be a starker political message that Singapore cannot thrive without foreign workers Mr Lee Hsien Loong, in a media interview before handing over the reins to his deputy, Mr Lawrence Wong, described managing the"inherent tensions" between wanting social cohesion and bringing in immigrants as the “most difficult” issue he has had to deal with during his 20-year tenure as Singapore’s third prime minister.that while Singapore welcomes foreign professionals, it will be carefully managed.
Since then, the Government has introduced a slew of new measures — or enhanced existing ones — to address Singaporeans’ concerns over the foreign manpower issue. These include tightening control over inflow of foreign workers, protecting citizens from unfair competition, and building up the local talent pool through training and international exposure.
Politics aside, businesses, economists and recruiters who spoke to TODAY agreed on the economic need for foreign manpower. As such, to soothe the feelings of unease and unhappiness among the citizenry, the Government and other stakeholders will need to address factors that go beyond jobs, such as making sure that Singaporeans feel their needs are sufficiently met in other aspects of their lives as well.
Half of them specialised in project management while the remainder in facilities management, and “and as we know, when you graduate from university, you don’t necessarily pursue a course”, she said. And for young and small firms like warehousing automation company XSQUARE Technologies, they tend to lose these talents to more established ones, said its chief executive officer Jens Bohnwagner.
At the national level, not having the foreign worker headcount would naturally lead to a smaller aggregate economic output for the country, all else being constant. Total population recorded negative growth in 2020 and 2021 due to Covid-19 pandemic disruptions and border lockdowns, which led to some non-residents leaving and some Singaporeans being stuck overseas.
He pointed to the Covid-19 pandemic as a real-life illustration of such an impact, where many foreign workers left the country due to border restrictions and many businesses came to a standstill.CAN WE JUST TAKE IN SOME, BUT NOT THE OTHERS? Economic experts as well as talent recruiters like Mr Kenji Naito, group CEO of Reeracoen, said that while it may be theoretically possible to be highly selective when hiring foreign talent for higher positions, this is not practical or beneficial in the long term.
This is further exacerbated by the more volatile global business landscape, characterised by more frequent disruptions, and the fact that it takes time to groom talents with deep knowledge and experience in any field.The suggestion that higher-value jobs should be kept exclusively for locals would be problematic.
However, the idea of doing so and hiving off the so-called less desirable jobs to only foreigners is not realistic and“Some of us will not regard them as a part of our society, we take a different occupation from them. ‘They’re here, they're not meant to stay. They are never a part of us’ — that is the kind of rhetoric that you might get,” said Dr Leong.
Among other things, it introduced, together with the Community Development Councils, the Corporate Social Integration Fund in 2017. The fund supports corporate social responsibility volunteerism activities by companies to, among others, create platforms for local/ foreign employees from corporate organisations and the local community to interact.
Instances of discrimination experienced at work or during job search, including over one’s nationality, seemed to have also dipped, according to the Ministry of Manpower’s fair employment practices report in July 2023. G-P is an employer of record, an entity that helps hire workers under its own headcount, on behalf of other companies.
“So even as the Government has been trying its best to address concerns, it may not be seen as sufficient.”Assoc Prof Theseira said that given the fact that Singapore is selective of the foreign talents it brings in, by default these workers will be earning higher than the average Singaporean. Sociologist Tan Ern Ser from National University of Singapore said: “Competition can produce tension and conflict; hence, the need to ensure that there is enough of the things that matter to Singaporeans at the workplace, schools, and neighbourhoods.
“We need to move beyond ‘how much you get, how much I get’. It's about how much we are doing this together? And I think this is the narrative that is missing.” For example, true to his character, the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew never minced words when it came to migrants and foreign talents. In more recent times, political leaders have time and again explained the need for foreigners to supplement the local workforce. But in the same breath, they would also reiterate how locals are being prioritised or at least not sidelined, political observers said.
“The political climate today makes it challenging to put forth the message that we need foreigners to augment the capacity and capability of our workforce in terms of both quantity and quality”.“An undue focus on what’s been done to ‘protect’ Singaporeans’ interests can easily become one of pressing the Government to adopt protectionist measures,” he said.
Recruiters were saying then that some executive candidates already had multiple offers on hand by the time they were interviewed for a position in Singapore. One such headhunter was advising its clients to be prepared as there were “an awful lot of offers rejected”. However, she also added:"Given the holistic and forward-looking — some may say far-sighted — policymaking framework here, dealing with the cut and thrust of competition for talent and foreign direct investment is not new."Some experts said that Singapore must also be mindful of one thing: It cannot take for granted its ability to attract such foreign talents in the first place.
“These concerns primarily revolve around rising operational costs and the challenges posed by global supply chain disruptions,” said Mr Naito of Reeracoen. But he added that “we have not observed a significant number of companies relocating or moving headcounts elsewhere”. Mr Victor Mills, chief executive of Singapore International Chamber of Commerce, said: “Companies will always decide what’s best for them in terms of location based on their needs.”
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