Singapore has metamorphosized from a curly caterpillar to a beautiful butterfly. Singapore started off as a tiny fishing village and has revolutionised into a full fledged urbanized city. Just like a butterfly struggles to break through the cocoon Singapore has had its fair share of hurdles to overcome, before achieving what they have today.
One of the problems Singapore had to overcome was their shortage of manpower. Throughout the years Singapore has altered their immigration policy to help resolve this problem.
In the early 1900s, there was little or no immigration control what so ever. Out of 3 million people 10% were migrant workers from across the border.
In 2000 out of 4 million people 18% were migrant workers.
Currently in 2010 with the implementation of the Liberal Immigration Policy, Sinapore has seen an increase of foreign workers by 36%
Foreigners and permanent residents take up the jobs that many of the locals shun away. They also complete in the better paying job market such as the Welfare and Finance sector. In doing so they are hopefully lured to anchor themselves in Singapore thus improving our skilled labour force.
Under the Singapore Employment Act, a foreigner must have a valid work visa to be able to work in Singapore. Today, foreign work force in Singapore is categorized into two broad groups, foreign talent and foreign workers. Foreign talent is skilled employees that have professional business or educational background, whereas foreign workers are the unskilled labour force.
With an increased number of foreigners, the worry within Singaporeans intensifies as job vacancies, spots in educational institute’s gets more competitive. However the issue has been addressed by the Singaporean government as they have allocated a fixed number of seats for international students.
Frustration boils as many service staff is now rendered by foreign workers who either speak only in their own dialect, or in English but due to their very strong heritage deciphering the words is another battle one has to overcome and finally there is the group which have assimilated well into the society.
Employees find that foreign workers are willing to work longer hours plus they save cost as many do not as high a qualification as the. It think by forcing a minimum wage it would ensures that the labour force is utilised more efficiently as it would want to use their full moneys’ worth.
Niche areas where they our heartland dwellers could proudly call home are now being invaded by foreigners. Our forefathers were immigrants yet they were able to fit in but why an issue of the immigrants now. Well, in my opinion what makes the difference is that Singapore wants to compete in the global arena and the increased competition contributed by the migrants are not doing any one a favour as stress levels begin to rise at an unhealthy pace. Without proper assimilation into the society everything will fall apart as competition in the global arena intensifies, cultures may clash. The government needs to foster not just tolerance but genuine integration between the locals and foreigners.
Singapore cannot stop the influx of migrants but maybe slow down the inflow. Singapore as it is has space constrain yes, reclamation of land and upward and downward extensions are viable but only to a certain extent. Recruiting the migrants at such a quick pace can be detrimental if there is not enough support services and accommodation to cater to the influx. We need to consider the ramifications before we had fully absorbed into the hype.
Lastly, though the need for migrant workers is evident especially since Singaporeans are not keen to have more children due to the high standards of living. In the process of extending our hospitality towards the foreigners we must not do it in the expense of the locals.
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