The use of a foreign workforce in Singapore stems from 2 main
factors:
1. Lack of local expertise
2. Cost of employing locals
The argument that foreigners are employed because Singaporeans do
not want to do the job is a straw man argument. We have all seen
Singaporeans who are willing to work as toilet cleaners, road
sweepers and refuse collectors. The majority of Singaporeans are
not a haughty lot. The truth is some jobs now pay too little as to
make it impossible for Singaporeans to cover the costs of living in
public housing, feeding themselves modestly and commuting to work.
Foreign workers who are housed and fed by employers and whose only
consideration is to send money back to their families are more open
to these low paying jobs. Hence, the "unwanted jobs issue" is
actually a misdirection of point 2.
To address point 1, let it first be acknowledged that a foreign
education is often inferior to a local education. A Singapore
educated polytechnic student is superior to a China educated
graduate student both in terms of work attitude and in terms of
exposure to industry wide practises. The problem is that employers are too fixated on
paper certification and do not give enough credit to the quality of
graduates from our world class educational system. As
Singapore invests more in training local talent we will see more
and more of this gap between capability and employabilty. Some
foreign workers are indeed leaders in their field and possess
training which cannot be easily replicated in local workers but
these do not make up to 50% or more of the workers in an industry.
If the interests of Singapore citizens are to be given equitable
measure, MOM should at the very least, look into recommending a
point based systems to HR managers as a guideline for employment.
What is so bad about a basic assumption that employing Singaporeans
is better than employing foreigners, especially in at a time where
a long term financial crisis are staring us point blank in the
face?
To address point 2, I have observed that talented foreign workers
are not at all paid less that local workers of similar calibre and
so the argument that locals professionals are paid more is moot. In
fact, sometimes foreign talents are paid more because there is a
prestige factor that goes with employing a foreign "talent".
Therefore the issue of costs among the professional classes does
not exist.
This leaves the issue of foreign workers who are employed in low
paying industries where there is a ceiling to the amount an
employer can pay in order for the business model to work. In such a
case, reduction of local living costs like reduction of transport
charges do help but more can be done to creatively address these
problems. For example, government can introduce tax breaks for
companies who organize transport for their workers and who employ
more Singaporeans. Other creative
measures can be put in place if only one were to take the time to
look into the various factors that increase the costs of employing
citizens. This is a better approach to helping Singaporeans than to
just simply give handouts.
As it stands the Foreign Talent/Worker situation has evolved
from a situation that sacrifices national interests for expediency
and cronyism. To do this at a time of plenty is excusable, to
continue to do so going into a long term crisis that warrants early
elections is dangerous.
Going into the elections, I believe whoever can address these
points effectively and cogently will manage to gain more popular
support.
I think you have given good suggestions and a good analysis
of the current situation based on your observance.
Yeah Foreign Talent is over-rated.
We need Foreign manpower because our economy needs
them to sustain.
I wonder if the red - is really true. Our local graduate might
lack the skills and experience but they probably
will pick things up fast due to the education that they have
received. . assuming that they are willing to worker hard.
Will investing on relearn, unlearn and learn programme
actually helps the local to even out the differences between a
foreign working professional with much experience? Will
it eventually make a strong impact on the job
market.. eh? I
Singaporean should jolly get out of this dot and roam the
world and become foreign talent themselves lol