Immigrant workers in Singapore
Encyclopedia
Immigration and immigrant workers in Singapore have been closely associated with the country's economic
development
. After independence in 1965
, immigration
laws were modified in 1966 to reinforce Singapore
's identity as a sovereign
state. However, the initial strict controls on immigrant workers were relaxed as demand for labor grew with increased industrialization (Yeoh 2007).
in 2000, which is the highest proportion of foreign worker
s in Asia (Yeoh 2007). Over the last decade, Singapore's non-resident workforce increased 170%, from 248,000 in 1990 to 670,000 in 2006 (Yeoh 2007). By 2006, there were about 580,000 lower-skilled
foreign workers in Singapore; another 90,000 foreign workers are skilled-employment pass holders (Yeoh 2007). In September 2010, the Singapore Statistics Bureau announced the report showed that the Singapore population approached 5,000,000 people by the end of June 2010, but the Singapore citizen total was 3,200,000 people, accounted for 64%. In other words, in the Singapore population, surpasses 1/3 is the foreigner. With only approximately 700 square kilometers Singapore has become possibly the most densely populated country in Asia, if not the world.
or unskilled workers who mainly work in the manufacturing
, construction
, and domestic services sectors. The majority of them come from places such as People's Republic of China
, Indonesia
, India
, Bangladesh
, Myanmar
, Sri Lanka
, the Philippines
, and Thailand
, as part of bilateral
agreements between Singapore and these countries (Yeoh 2007). Foreign talent refers to foreigners with professional qualifications or acceptable degrees working at the higher end of Singapore’s economy. They come from People's Republic of China
, Taiwan
, Hong Kong
, Japan
, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Europe
, Australia
, New Zealand
and United States of America.
The Singaporean government
has carefully constructed a system under which different types of employment passes are issued to immigrant workers according to their qualifications and monthly salaries. The “P, Q, R” employment-pass system was put into practice since September 1998; a new “S” type employment pass was later introduced in July 2004. The government has also set different policies on recruiting foreign talents and foreign workers.
The different policies towards 'Foreign workers' and 'Foreign talent' in Singapore have led some people to feel that their contributions toward Singapore’s development are valued differently. However, the Singapore government has always stressed the importance of immigrant workers to Singapore’s economy
and development. Senior Minister
Goh Chok Tong
, then Prime Minister
, said in his 1997 National Day
rally speech that the government's lack of restrictions on the recruitment of foreigners did not extend only to top-rung prestigious positions, but also to middle-level management, skilled worker and technician positions (Low 2002).
to facilitate the inflow of international talent to Singapore. The Singapore Talent Recruitment (STAR) Committee was formed in November 1998 with the aim of attracting foreign talents to Singapore. Other similar programmes include Manpower 21, launched in 1999, and the International Manpower Program of the Economic Development Board
. The government has developed the Scheme for Housing of Foreign Talents with the aim of providing affordable yet comfortable accommodations for foreign talents, in order to attract them to work and stay in Singapore (Low 2002).
s. The policy stance was met with strong protests from employers facing labor shortage
s (Athukorala and Manning, 1999).
In April 1987, the Singapore government announced its immigration policy
, which intended to control the foreign worker inflow. The two key elements in the policy were a monthly levy payable by the employer for each foreign worker employed, and a “dependency ceiling” that limits the proportion of foreign workers in the total workforce of any one employer. The government later introduced a two-tier levy system in October 1991 under which employers were required to pay a higher levy on workers whose employment would change the “dependent ceiling” value of the company(Athukorala and Manning 1999). The levy and the “dependency ceiling” have remained the two instruments with which the government has regulated worker inflow in line with changes in domestic labor-market
conditions (Athukorala and Manning 1999).
was the starting force behind the influx of foreign Permanent Residents (PRs). The ill-prepared policy, one of modern Singapore’s most important, has been the cause of a number of problems for locals, ranging from jobs and public transport to housing and education.
It also led to one of the worst election declines in 2011 for the ruling People's Action Party
. In his article, Chua said that as Singapore’s fertility rate fell to 1.4 in 1987, Goh — who was then Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) and due to succeed Lee Kuan Yew — started a pro-immigration policy. Chua alleged it was Goh who had openly promoted mass immigration in 1987 when he was DPM. There has been no official confirmation from the two retired leaders. During the past 20 years (1991-2010) some 726,768 PR permits were issued — mostly to foreign professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs), who were directly competing with middle-class Singaporeans. At one time, he also strongly nudged as many PRs as possible to take up Singapore citizenship. Chua’s article was an analysis of the “Sept 2011 Population Report in the Larger Context” issued by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), a think tank. “After promoting foreign immigration without really defining its meaning from 1987 to 2011, (Goh) relinquished his Cabinet position,” Chua wrote. “He expressed hopes that a younger Cabinet would be able to carry Singapore forward in a more difficult and complex situation. His policies probably caused this situation.”
The IPS report attributed no names of leaders responsible, but it seems that Goh had been pushing it for a long period. Goh allegedly opened the door for 20,000+ new PRs a year from 1987 to 1997 (up from 8,000 average). The figures rose steadily in two more waves until 2005-2010 when between 50,000 and 80,000 arrived every year. “(Goh) remained in the Cabinet after stepping down from the prime ministership in 2004,” Chua added. The tempo of PR arrivals increased. What he said of the role of the former Prime Minister Goh has come as a surprise to Singaporeans, who had all along believed the immigration policy was solely his predecessor Lee Kuan Yew’s idea. Chua said that even after Goh had handed over leadership to PM Lee Hsien Loong
, he continued to work on the programme while in Cabinet, and large numbers of PRs kept coming in. In another comment, social activist Ravi Philemon also said that it was the government under Goh which relaxed the stricter yester-years immigration policy of Singapore. In fact, the excessive arrivals resulted in Lee Kuan Yew warning him that 60,000 new residents a year was “politically indigestible” and that 30,000 was more realistic. Singaporeans generally read with some disbelief that Lee had allowed such an important decision as mass immigration to be decided by Goh. The majority of Singaporeans assumed the original initiative had come from the founding leader himself — and that Goh was only a very convinced implementer.
As part of the immigration debate, Singaporeans' attention is often on their income levels and public housing. Many Singaporeans take the view, expressed in the media and online, that immigration threatens Singaporean's employment opportunities, particularly since Singapore has not any minimum wage rule, the low income population is therefore facing intense labor market competition without any minimum wage safeguard. In addition, the population, having greatly increased in a short time, is causing tremendous pressure on public services: buses and the subway train carriages become very crowded, the real unemployment rate for Singaporeans has increased, certificates of entitlement for cars, places in the better schools, the university housing supply for Singaporeans is tight, home prices - both private and public - are rocket high, and local-born Singaporeans, particularly singles, now face difficulty in securing public housing which is now open to Permanent Residents who can purchase public housing on the second hand market.
Economy of Singapore
Singapore has a highly developed state capitalist mixed economy; the state owns stakes in firms that comprise perhaps 60% of the GDP through entities such as the sovereign wealth fund Temasek...
development
Economic development
Economic development generally refers to the sustained, concerted actions of policymakers and communities that promote the standard of living and economic health of a specific area...
. After independence in 1965
History of the Republic of Singapore
The history of the Republic of Singapore began when Singapore gained its independence and became a republic following an ejection from Malaysia on 9 August 1965. After the separation, the fledgling nation had to become self-sufficient, and faced problems including mass unemployment, housing...
, immigration
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
laws were modified in 1966 to reinforce Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
's identity as a sovereign
Sovereignty
Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area, such as a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...
state. However, the initial strict controls on immigrant workers were relaxed as demand for labor grew with increased industrialization (Yeoh 2007).
Statistics
Between 1970 and 1980, the size of the non-resident population in Singapore doubled. The trend continued in the 1980s and 1990s (Yeoh 2007). Foreigners constituted about 29% of Singapore's total labor forceLabor force
In economics, a labor force or labour force is a region's combined civilian workforce, including both the employed and unemployed.Normally, the labor force of a country consists of everyone of working age In economics, a labor force or labour force is a region's combined civilian workforce,...
in 2000, which is the highest proportion of foreign worker
Foreign worker
A foreign worker is a person who works in a country other than the one of which he or she is a citizen. The term migrant worker as discussed in the migrant worker page is used in a particular UN resolution as a synonym for "foreign worker"...
s in Asia (Yeoh 2007). Over the last decade, Singapore's non-resident workforce increased 170%, from 248,000 in 1990 to 670,000 in 2006 (Yeoh 2007). By 2006, there were about 580,000 lower-skilled
Skill (labor)
Skill is a measure of a worker's expertise, specialization, wages, and supervisory capacity. Skilled workers are generally more trained, higher paid, and have more responsibilities than unskilled workers....
foreign workers in Singapore; another 90,000 foreign workers are skilled-employment pass holders (Yeoh 2007). In September 2010, the Singapore Statistics Bureau announced the report showed that the Singapore population approached 5,000,000 people by the end of June 2010, but the Singapore citizen total was 3,200,000 people, accounted for 64%. In other words, in the Singapore population, surpasses 1/3 is the foreigner. With only approximately 700 square kilometers Singapore has become possibly the most densely populated country in Asia, if not the world.
Policy
In Singapore, the term immigrant workers is separated into foreign workers and foreign talents. Foreign workers refers to semi-skilledSkill (labor)
Skill is a measure of a worker's expertise, specialization, wages, and supervisory capacity. Skilled workers are generally more trained, higher paid, and have more responsibilities than unskilled workers....
or unskilled workers who mainly work in the manufacturing
Manufacturing
Manufacturing is the use of machines, tools and labor to produce goods for use or sale. The term may refer to a range of human activity, from handicraft to high tech, but is most commonly applied to industrial production, in which raw materials are transformed into finished goods on a large scale...
, construction
Construction
In the fields of architecture and civil engineering, construction is a process that consists of the building or assembling of infrastructure. Far from being a single activity, large scale construction is a feat of human multitasking...
, and domestic services sectors. The majority of them come from places such as People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
, Myanmar
Myanmar
Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....
, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
, the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, and Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, as part of bilateral
Bilateralism
Bilateralism consists of the political, economic, or cultural relations between two sovereign states. For example, free trade agreements signed by two states are examples of bilateral treaties. It is in contrast to unilateralism or multilateralism, which refers to the conduct of diplomacy by a...
agreements between Singapore and these countries (Yeoh 2007). Foreign talent refers to foreigners with professional qualifications or acceptable degrees working at the higher end of Singapore’s economy. They come from People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
, Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
, Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
and United States of America.
The Singaporean government
Government of Singapore
The Government of Singapore is defined by the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore to mean the Executive branch of government, which is made up of the President and the Cabinet of Singapore. Although the President acts in his personal discretion in the exercise of certain functions as a check...
has carefully constructed a system under which different types of employment passes are issued to immigrant workers according to their qualifications and monthly salaries. The “P, Q, R” employment-pass system was put into practice since September 1998; a new “S” type employment pass was later introduced in July 2004. The government has also set different policies on recruiting foreign talents and foreign workers.
The different policies towards 'Foreign workers' and 'Foreign talent' in Singapore have led some people to feel that their contributions toward Singapore’s development are valued differently. However, the Singapore government has always stressed the importance of immigrant workers to Singapore’s economy
Economy of Singapore
Singapore has a highly developed state capitalist mixed economy; the state owns stakes in firms that comprise perhaps 60% of the GDP through entities such as the sovereign wealth fund Temasek...
and development. Senior Minister
Senior Minister
Senior Minister is a political office in the political system of Singapore taken by a prime minister or senior cabinet minister when he or she retires from that office, but still has something to offer the government based on his or her long experience...
Goh Chok Tong
Goh Chok Tong
Goh Chok Tong is the Senior Minister of Singapore and the chairman of the central bank of Singapore, the Monetary Authority of Singapore. He also served as the second Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore from 28 November 1990 to 12 August 2004, succeeding Lee Kuan Yew, the former Prime...
, then Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Singapore
The Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore is the head of the government of the Republic of Singapore. The President of Singapore appoints as Prime Minister a Member of Parliament who, in his opinion, is most likely to command the confidence of a majority of MPs.The office of Prime Minister...
, said in his 1997 National Day
National Day
The National Day is a designated date on which celebrations mark the nationhood of a nation or non-sovereign country. This nationhood can be symbolized by the date of independence, of becoming republic or a significant date for a patron saint or a ruler . Often the day is not called "National Day"...
rally speech that the government's lack of restrictions on the recruitment of foreigners did not extend only to top-rung prestigious positions, but also to middle-level management, skilled worker and technician positions (Low 2002).
Foreign talent
Various policies and incentives are used to attract foreign talent to Singapore. CONTACT SINGAPORE was launched in 1997 by the International Talent Division of the Ministry of ManpowerMinistry of Manpower (Singapore)
The Ministry of Manpower is a ministry of the Government of Singapore that directs the formulation and implementation of policies related to manpower in Singapore.-Mission:...
to facilitate the inflow of international talent to Singapore. The Singapore Talent Recruitment (STAR) Committee was formed in November 1998 with the aim of attracting foreign talents to Singapore. Other similar programmes include Manpower 21, launched in 1999, and the International Manpower Program of the Economic Development Board
Economic Development Board
-Overview:The Economic Development Board is a statutory board of the Government of Singapore that plans and executes strategies to sustain Singapore as a leading global hub for business and investment....
. The government has developed the Scheme for Housing of Foreign Talents with the aim of providing affordable yet comfortable accommodations for foreign talents, in order to attract them to work and stay in Singapore (Low 2002).
Foreign workers
On the other hand, stringent policies and regulations have been set on employing foreign workers. In 1981, the government even announced its intention to phase out all unskilled foreign workers by the end of 1991, except domestic maids and those employed in construction and shipyardShipyard
Shipyards and dockyards are places which repair and build ships. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance and basing activities than shipyards, which are sometimes associated more with initial...
s. The policy stance was met with strong protests from employers facing labor shortage
Labor shortage
In its narrowest definition, a labor shortage is an economic condition in which there are insufficient qualified candidates to fill the market-place demands for employment at any price...
s (Athukorala and Manning, 1999).
In April 1987, the Singapore government announced its immigration policy
Immigration policy
An immigration policy is any policy of a state that deals with the transit of persons across its borders into the country, but especially those that intend to work and to remain in the country. Immigration policies can range from allowing no migration at all to allowing most types of migration,...
, which intended to control the foreign worker inflow. The two key elements in the policy were a monthly levy payable by the employer for each foreign worker employed, and a “dependency ceiling” that limits the proportion of foreign workers in the total workforce of any one employer. The government later introduced a two-tier levy system in October 1991 under which employers were required to pay a higher levy on workers whose employment would change the “dependent ceiling” value of the company(Athukorala and Manning 1999). The levy and the “dependency ceiling” have remained the two instruments with which the government has regulated worker inflow in line with changes in domestic labor-market
Labour economics
Labor economics seeks to understand the functioning and dynamics of the market for labor. Labor markets function through the interaction of workers and employers...
conditions (Athukorala and Manning 1999).
Impacts and concerns
A regular contributor on the republic’s history and current affairs, Chua Sun Tong wrote in The Online Citizen that Goh Chok TongGoh Chok Tong
Goh Chok Tong is the Senior Minister of Singapore and the chairman of the central bank of Singapore, the Monetary Authority of Singapore. He also served as the second Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore from 28 November 1990 to 12 August 2004, succeeding Lee Kuan Yew, the former Prime...
was the starting force behind the influx of foreign Permanent Residents (PRs). The ill-prepared policy, one of modern Singapore’s most important, has been the cause of a number of problems for locals, ranging from jobs and public transport to housing and education.
It also led to one of the worst election declines in 2011 for the ruling People's Action Party
People's Action Party
The People's Action Party is the leading political party in Singapore. It has been the city-state's ruling political party since 1959....
. In his article, Chua said that as Singapore’s fertility rate fell to 1.4 in 1987, Goh — who was then Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) and due to succeed Lee Kuan Yew — started a pro-immigration policy. Chua alleged it was Goh who had openly promoted mass immigration in 1987 when he was DPM. There has been no official confirmation from the two retired leaders. During the past 20 years (1991-2010) some 726,768 PR permits were issued — mostly to foreign professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs), who were directly competing with middle-class Singaporeans. At one time, he also strongly nudged as many PRs as possible to take up Singapore citizenship. Chua’s article was an analysis of the “Sept 2011 Population Report in the Larger Context” issued by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), a think tank. “After promoting foreign immigration without really defining its meaning from 1987 to 2011, (Goh) relinquished his Cabinet position,” Chua wrote. “He expressed hopes that a younger Cabinet would be able to carry Singapore forward in a more difficult and complex situation. His policies probably caused this situation.”
The IPS report attributed no names of leaders responsible, but it seems that Goh had been pushing it for a long period. Goh allegedly opened the door for 20,000+ new PRs a year from 1987 to 1997 (up from 8,000 average). The figures rose steadily in two more waves until 2005-2010 when between 50,000 and 80,000 arrived every year. “(Goh) remained in the Cabinet after stepping down from the prime ministership in 2004,” Chua added. The tempo of PR arrivals increased. What he said of the role of the former Prime Minister Goh has come as a surprise to Singaporeans, who had all along believed the immigration policy was solely his predecessor Lee Kuan Yew’s idea. Chua said that even after Goh had handed over leadership to PM Lee Hsien Loong
Lee Hsien Loong
Lee Hsien Loong is the third and current Prime Minister of Singapore. He is married to Ho Ching, who is the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of Temasek Holdings. He is the eldest son of Singapore's first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew....
, he continued to work on the programme while in Cabinet, and large numbers of PRs kept coming in. In another comment, social activist Ravi Philemon also said that it was the government under Goh which relaxed the stricter yester-years immigration policy of Singapore. In fact, the excessive arrivals resulted in Lee Kuan Yew warning him that 60,000 new residents a year was “politically indigestible” and that 30,000 was more realistic. Singaporeans generally read with some disbelief that Lee had allowed such an important decision as mass immigration to be decided by Goh. The majority of Singaporeans assumed the original initiative had come from the founding leader himself — and that Goh was only a very convinced implementer.
As part of the immigration debate, Singaporeans' attention is often on their income levels and public housing. Many Singaporeans take the view, expressed in the media and online, that immigration threatens Singaporean's employment opportunities, particularly since Singapore has not any minimum wage rule, the low income population is therefore facing intense labor market competition without any minimum wage safeguard. In addition, the population, having greatly increased in a short time, is causing tremendous pressure on public services: buses and the subway train carriages become very crowded, the real unemployment rate for Singaporeans has increased, certificates of entitlement for cars, places in the better schools, the university housing supply for Singaporeans is tight, home prices - both private and public - are rocket high, and local-born Singaporeans, particularly singles, now face difficulty in securing public housing which is now open to Permanent Residents who can purchase public housing on the second hand market.
See also
- Singaporean nationality lawSingaporean nationality lawSingaporean nationality law is derived from the Constitution of Singapore and is based on jus sanguinis and a modified form of jus soli...
- Immigration and Checkpoints AuthorityImmigration and Checkpoints AuthorityThe Immigration and Checkpoints Authority is part of the Ministry of Home Affairs of the Singapore Government.-Overview:...
- National Registration Identity CardNational Registration Identity CardThe National Registration Identity Card is the identity document in use in Singapore...