Somehow I feel the idea of having an immigrant readily available
to match the ability of every person who is multi-talented a bit
exaggerated. Firstly why these immigrants come here to snatch low
end jobs is because they are unskilled. By upgrading you become a
skilled worker which differentiates you from them
and thats what lands you the job. Expats, those who are skilled
only come in small numbers. Naturally these people are attracted
here in search of higher pay and better job prospects just as our
own talents have (top MAS economist leaves Singapore for a post in
Middle East as economic development board advisor). Whiile i dont
have empirical evidence to back the fact that upgrading skills can
possibly offer you better jobs that are less affected by the influx
of foreigners in terms of wage competitiveness, i hope this line of
reasoning is convincing. Simply put, the problem our workers face
in terms of lowering wages is for jobs like construction worker,
road sweepers and stuff which we are observing that increasingly,
are jobs taken up by foreigners. So actually our own people are not
entangled in this downwardspiral of wages.
Furthermore, the idea of the 'wage war' is unrealistic as every
person has their own reservation wage. Unlike price wars among
producers, the undercutting in terms of wages does not occur thatut
dramatically simply because there is a minimum subsistence wage
that they must earn. Everyone wishes to earn the maximum that they
can get so to assume that people would willing cut their wage to
get the job is a bit unrealistic. What is true however is that with
a larger supply of cheap labour, by offering a lower wage on the
part of the employer they can still find several
takers for the job which is what accounts for the phenomena of
falling wages. However when these employers want to look for better
workers, (i.e. the more skilled or multi-talented ones) the
scrutinization increases and so does the wage so as to attract
these better workers. This is true of globalisation and the effect
of labour flows around the word today that the wages of skilled
workers do go up. The only sad truth is that in many places cheap
labour has forced the wages of unskilled workers down, that is what
we are trying to prevent through retraining and such.
The immigrants here can be segregated into 3 types: unskilled
(foreign worker) immigrants, skilled ( foreign talent / foreign
'talent' ) immigrants and expats.
These immigrants compete with locals for jobs. As the locals
upgrade their skills / learn new skills to avoid competition from
the unskilled immigrants, they will then face competition from the
skilled immigrants. It's not like once you have upgraded your
skills, you get the job, it doesn't work that way. Either way, the
locals are screwed and they have to undercut their wages to compete
with these immigrants to get the job.
Whatever skills you have, there will always be a foreigner that
has the same skills and can undercut your salary by accepting lower
wages. So what if the hired foreigner doesn't fit into the company,
the company could always try hiring another equally skilled and
lesser paid foreigner since they are in abundance.
unskilled immigrants ( foreign worker ): You will find them
driving public transports ( SMRT /SBS buses ), building houses and
buildings, doing ship repair, working as operators in manufacturing
plants, working as maids and attending to you at your friendly
neighbourhood hawker centres, foodcourts, restuarants and retail
outlets.
skilled immigrants ( foreign talent / foreign 'talent' ): You
will find them mostly in the technical jobs of IT industry,
engineering industry and manufacturing industry. Most of them are
technically trained, have knowledge of IT subjects and engineering
subjects, are experienced in their own field and able to articulate
themselves well. The local NITEC, diploma and degree graduates
regardless of whether they are experienced or not are competing
against these batch of skilled immigrants.
Some of the skilled immigrants ( foreign talent ) really know
what they are doing and are able to design and build new products,
software etc and some of them ( foreign 'talent' ) are actually
foreign workers in disguise.
There is another type of skilled immigrants that aren't
technically trained and they are found in the sports and media
industry ( eg. actors and actresses )
Expats: You will find them at occupying managerial positions or
higher posts at MNCs, finance centres, banks etc. They are the
smallest in numbers compared to the other 2 types of immigrants
These 3 types immigrants are here for money only, they will not
settle down in the country. Once they have earned enough, they will
move back to their own country to live like a king or if there are
a better prospects elsewhere eg. employments in US, australia,
canada, etc, they will pack their bags and move there.
A friend of mine who once worked at a manufacturing plant told
me this. During the good times, when his company is making money,
the skilled immigrants ( foreign talent / foreign 'talent' )
outnumbered the locals in the company and are growing in numbers
every year. But when his company show signs of losses, the skilled
immigrants ( foreign talent / foreign 'talent' ) flocked to other
profitable companies and suddenly there are no skilled immigrants
left in his company.
