Foreign Labor and Economic Development in Singapore

Fong, Pang Eng; Lim, Linda

doi:10.2307/2545368

Cited by 21 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…Beset by a reputation for poor conditions, Singapore’s construction industry historically struggled to attract local labour (Debrah and Ofori, 1997). From 1965, the government permitted the hiring of Malaysians; beginning in 1980, workers from designated ‘non-traditional source countries’, initially Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand, were recruited (Fong and Lim, 1982). Attributing the industry’s low productivity to a dependence on foreign workers and the liberal use of subcontractors (Debrah and Ofori, 1997; Ofori and Lim, 2009; Pheng and Zheng, 2018), since the mid-1990s, the Singaporean government has required prospective migrants to undergo months of self-funded trade training at Overseas Training Centres in labour-sending states (Channel NewsAsia, 2013; Tan, 1997).…”

Section: Foreign Workers In Singapore’s Construction Industrymentioning

confidence: 99%

Building Inequality: Wage Disparity between Bangladeshi and Thai Guestworkers in Singapore’s Construction Industry

Rainwater

2020

Work, Employment and Society

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Existing research on wage inequality in the construction industry focuses on dual labour markets in which migrants earn considerably less than native workers. This article examines occupational inequality between higher-paid Thai and lower-paid Bangladeshi first-time guestworkers in Singapore’s low-wage construction industry. It argues that differently priced national groups of first-time construction guestworkers persist in Singapore’s industry; first, because Singapore wages are established with reference to the economies of sending states, and second, because construction firms associate worker productivity with nationality. Alleged differences in productivity between Thai and Bangladeshi guestworkers are related to the workers’ differently classed socialization in their home countries: Bangladeshis are recruited from their country’s middle-class, whereas Thais are working-class. Sourcing reflects the subset of each sending state’s population who can afford the considerable recruitment and training fees and are attracted by Singapore wages and work.

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Section: Foreign Workers In Singapore’s Construction Industrymentioning

confidence: 99%

Building Inequality: Wage Disparity between Bangladeshi and Thai Guestworkers in Singapore’s Construction Industry

Rainwater

2020

Work, Employment and Society

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“…To meet its manpower needs, Singapore has historically relied on foreign manpower at both ends of the skill spectrum. Indeed, as Fong and Lim (1982, p. 548) and Pang and Lim (2015) have observed, the Singapore economy was “founded” on migrant labour, and contemporary Singaporeans are the descendants of the Chinese diaspora of the southern coastal regions of China, as well as indentured labour from the subcontinent, the Malaysian peninsula @and the Indonesian archipelago. The Chinese immigrant population was by far the largest, attracted by the rubber boom of the early twentieth century (Fong and Lim, 1982, p. 549).…”

Section: State Policy Effortsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The state has long understood the consequences of this dependency on productivity and cautioned employers to regard freely available migrant labour as a temporary measure. Indeed, as long ago as the early 1980s, the then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew was reported in the Straits Times as stating that Singapore’s manufacturers would need to “mechanise, automate, computerise and improve management to cut down on workers or they will have to relocate their factories” (cited in Fong and Lim, 1982, p. 552). The then Finance Minister Tony Tan also drew caution in his 1985 Budget Speech citing social rather than economic concerns when he stated:[…] the solution to our labour shortage cannot be an indefinite and ever-growing dependence on foreign workers.…”

Section: State Policy Effortsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The challenges of state intervention in Singapore’s youth labour market

Waring

Vas

Bali

2018

EDI

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess the efficacy of the policy measures to encourage young Singaporeans to pursue employment in the manufacturing sector while at the same time discouraging the sector’s traditional dependence on low-cost foreign labour. In doing so, the paper sheds light on the challenges faced by small and medium enterprises (SME) as well as the less than optimum impact the policy rhetoric has had on redirecting the aspirations of young people away from tertiary qualifications attainment and towards vocational skills development. Design/methodology/approach The paper draws on primary survey data of 222 manufacturing firms and in-depth interviews with 20 SME leaders in Singapore. Findings The paper argues that despite the government’s policy efforts to encourage the employment of young Singaporeans in the manufacturing sector, the impact has been negligible. Even with moves to increase the transaction costs of employing foreign workers, the findings indicate that SMEs have not changed their staffing policies. Indeed, the results lay bare the low cost-low skill/low productivity trap that most SMEs now find themselves in. The government’s efforts to discourage the pursuit of tertiary qualifications in favour of vocational qualifications are unlikely to succeed. Originality/value The value of this research is fourfold. First, it exposes the difficulty of policy overcoming path dependency. Second, it sheds light on the need for government to rethink its policy approach in how best to re-tool human capital for traditional industry sectors like manufacturing. Third, the results show that there is limited efficacy in simply increasing transaction costs and altering rhetoric to discourage attainment of tertiary qualifications unless vocational employment is adequately remunerated. And finally, the results indicate that firms in the manufacturing sector need to embrace new business models, practices and technologies that are reflective of the digital era to be able to attract youth.

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“…The latter result is also consistent with the results from Japan. In the 1950s, Singapore set an immigration policy to accept foreigners who could contribute to the country's socio-economic development (Fong and Lim, 1982).…”

Section: Appendix Amentioning

confidence: 99%

Education and Pro-Family Altruistic Discrimination Against Foreigners: Five-Country Comparisons

et al. 2017

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We measure differences between altruism toward a family member and toward an unknown foreigner using hypothetical questions in internet surveys across five countries: Germany, the US, Singapore, South Korea, and Japan. Our analysis shows that people in all five countries exhibit greater altruistic tendencies toward family members compared to their behavior toward foreigners. However, the degree of discrimination differs across countries. It is lowest in Germany and largest in Japan; the remaining three countries fall within this demarcated range. Further analysis shows that correlation structures between education and altruistic discrimination differ widely. In Germany, people who have spent less time in education exhibit lower altruism toward foreigners compared to toward family members. However, in Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, people with higher education levels tend to discriminate against foreigners. The degree of discrimination is insensitive to the educational background in the US sample.

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Foreign Labor and Economic Development in Singapore

Cited by 21 publications

References 0 publications

Building Inequality: Wage Disparity between Bangladeshi and Thai Guestworkers in Singapore’s Construction Industry

Building Inequality: Wage Disparity between Bangladeshi and Thai Guestworkers in Singapore’s Construction Industry

The challenges of state intervention in Singapore’s youth labour market

Education and Pro-Family Altruistic Discrimination Against Foreigners: Five-Country Comparisons

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