By Lawrence Pek
Clearly, there has been a lot of unhappiness on the grounds with
the huge influx of foreigners into Singapore in the last 18 to 24
months, even though PM Lee has addressed this issue (well, sort
of), I would like to dwell further with a deeper analysis of
certain repercussions of these misguided policies.
Value Added – Currently, clearly we have many foreigners in the
service sectors, from 7-11 to waitresses to masseurs. The quality
of Foreigners is both unclear and not scrutinized. Are they doing
work that Singaporeans cannot do (special skills, experience or
relationships) – or just competition with locals for local jobs
(hawker centre, petrol kiosks and 7-11).
Cheap vs. Cheaper – Even though it is true that foreigners are
willing to accept cheaper salaries, please consider 2 things in the
long run:
1. Will they continue to accept the same
low wages in 3 to 5 years? They will not, for 2 simple reasons – if
they 30% cheaper than the local Singaporeans now, they will want to
price themselves 5 to 10% cheaper than a local Singaporeans, these
foreigners are not stupid, they want to be “cheaper” and not simply
just “cheap”
2. What will the government do about the
high unemployment rate for the local that was displaced? e.g. If
you bring in a cheaper 25 years old PRC girl to work in 7-11 to
replace a 35 year old Singaporean woman (or man) – then what will
he or she do, once she or he is replaced? Can that local find a
higher valued job (higher salary with higher function) – Isn’t it
clear that MOM just created a problem by doing this?
Structural Unemployment:
Please allow me to use this to clarify pt 2, this comes about
rarely, but it is a bitch to handle for any Minister of Manpower.
Simply, there is a job mismatch – there are plenty of job vacancies
to go about, but the quality of the people simply cannot perform
what these jobs require…the market has changed and companies now
require skills and knowledge workers in very specific or niche or
high (high is not niche) areas. Then there is a clear and definite
for that company to import foreign talent in order to perform the
tasks at hand. But locally, MOM and MOE need to look at re-training
and re-educating the local manpower to perform these task.
Why? The reason is one of valued added and sustainability. If
MOM and MOE can realize that there are no short cuts to structural
unemployment, then they need to bite the bullet to retrain locals,
because the locals stays and with a higher skilled workforce,
Singapore as an economy will be more cutting edge and more
competitive.
What happens when the Music Stops?
With 36% foreigners now in Singapore, regardless of whether they
are PRs or even New Citizens – will they be there when the going
gets tough in Singapore or will they leave for their homeland
(China, India, Vietnam…). Singapore is NOT HOME, they WILL LEAVE
and then WHAT DO WE DO?
Who will fill the void and what will happen to our economy?
There is a further perspective, if you have a small group of 100
and 10 leave, the 90 people should be able to cover and manage, but
if you have a group of 10,000 and 1,000 leaves (same 10%), the
balance 9,000 cannot and will not want to cover and manage the
gap.
The Brain Drain issue
This is not a new phenomenon; there are many Singaporeans (even
though they keep their passports) who will never come back
here. Artists, Musicians, Scientists and lastly, people like
myself, self-made business men. I have so many friends now in US,
Europe and China now, they simply will not come back anymore; their
reply is very simple, Singapore no longer provides the environment
for their (or their kids) development. Their value in these foreign
countries is higher than in Singapore. They already feel there is
no more reason, no more space for them to come back anymore. Given
the new demographics in their homeland now, I doubt if any of them
are inclined to ever come back.
Conclusion
In summary, the key message that I would like to convey is that
of Sustainability – Yes, it is true that the local bred and born
has 2 main issues, which is driving the influx of foreigners. We
are not willing to breed, and we are no longer as hardworking or
have higher expectations in terms of our employment benefits.
However, we cannot take the short cut route and look at the
short terms benefits in terms of GDP growth. Rather than bringing
the foreigners and creating a unstable society (trust me, there are
many pissed off people), why is it that we cannot bite the bullet
and try to brain storm ideas to increase birth rates, to control
wages for locals.
Unfortunately, it is true that I am not a full time labor
officer at MOM, so I am not privy to lots of internal discussions
or data, which I am sure, has led our urban planners to decide on
the current course of actions. However, I do not think that I am
wrong in my assessment above and I do would like an opportunity to
be proven wrong.
As a last word, to these scholars and ministers, I would like to
implore your better judgments on 2 fronts. Please trust us to
understand your predicament and we will do our best to understand
the issues, which we understand is our issues, anyway. Please do
not be so insecure in your policy making, talk to us and make us
understand, we are your people and responsibility.