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Imaginary Labour Shortage in Singapore?
November 12th, 2012 |
Author: Contributions
I have read with surprise recently quite a few articles about a so called
“labour shortage” in Singapore. On Saturday PAP MP for AMK Ang Hin Kee posted
on his facebook an advert taken out in the Straits Times [1] by Haniffa Pte Ltd,
a company from Little India claiming that their staff are 5 times busier than
previously due to a “labour shortage”.
“Previously one staff could service one customer at a time, but now due
to shortage of labour one staff has to service more than 5 customers at a
time.”
Ad from Haniffa Pte Ltd placed on ST
Today on TRE I saw the report [2] of many SME bosses pleading with the
government for help dealing with a so called “manpower crunch”.
The puzzling thing though is, as hard as I try to understand this, I cannot
find any real evidence of a “manpower crunch” in Singapore. In fact TRE has
reported a couple of times in the last few months that the officially reported
number of foreign workers in Singapore is still increasing, furthermore the rate
of increase this year is higher than previously [3][4]. The reality is that
despite a lot of talk, the government has done little to reduce the inflow of
foreign workers. Dependency ratios have been cut, but only by a tiny 5
percentage points, and this is not a change that will impact current employees
until 2014 – so for the time being it seems to be business as usual. In light
of the fact that this change will not affect existing works for two more years,
it is particularly puzzling how Haniffa Pte Ltd for example can claim that their
staff suddenly became five times busier when all their existing staff should be
able to continue working just as they have done previously.
I write this article just to remind all Singaporeans to think carefully
before believing these sorts of stories that are cropping up quite often
recently. As we know the government will release a report soon on the foreign
manpower needs of companies in Singapore, so the timing is suspicious. With the
majority [5] of our economy being linked to government controlled companies, it
is actually the government more than private employers that will be impacted by
any changes – just look for example at SBS going all around China to hire bus
drivers [6]. There is therefore a real concern that the government will use
this so called “shortage of labour” to justify keeping things the way they are –
propping up Singapore’s economy with an unsustainable inflow of foreign workers,
either because they have run out of ideas on how to develop Singapore further,
or because they are not brave or intelligent enough to solve the long standing
problem of low productivity in our economy.
.
Andy Wong
[1] http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...38126400.53313.149772861740371&type=1&theater
[2]
http://www.tremeritus.com/2012/11/1...out-manpower-crunch-affecting-their-business/
[3]
http://www.tremeritus.com/2012/09/2...-in-2012-despite-pm-lees-promise-to-moderate/
[4]
http://www.tremeritus.com/2012/08/2...ntinues-to-increase-unabatedly-after-ge-2011/
[5]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Singapore
[6] http://www.tremeritus.com/2012/10/2...rom-town-to-town-in-china-to-recruit-drivers/
I have read with surprise recently quite a few articles about a so called
“labour shortage” in Singapore. On Saturday PAP MP for AMK Ang Hin Kee posted
on his facebook an advert taken out in the Straits Times [1] by Haniffa Pte Ltd,
a company from Little India claiming that their staff are 5 times busier than
previously due to a “labour shortage”.
“Previously one staff could service one customer at a time, but now due
to shortage of labour one staff has to service more than 5 customers at a
time.”
Ad from Haniffa Pte Ltd placed on ST
Today on TRE I saw the report [2] of many SME bosses pleading with the
government for help dealing with a so called “manpower crunch”.
The puzzling thing though is, as hard as I try to understand this, I cannot
find any real evidence of a “manpower crunch” in Singapore. In fact TRE has
reported a couple of times in the last few months that the officially reported
number of foreign workers in Singapore is still increasing, furthermore the rate
of increase this year is higher than previously [3][4]. The reality is that
despite a lot of talk, the government has done little to reduce the inflow of
foreign workers. Dependency ratios have been cut, but only by a tiny 5
percentage points, and this is not a change that will impact current employees
until 2014 – so for the time being it seems to be business as usual. In light
of the fact that this change will not affect existing works for two more years,
it is particularly puzzling how Haniffa Pte Ltd for example can claim that their
staff suddenly became five times busier when all their existing staff should be
able to continue working just as they have done previously.
I write this article just to remind all Singaporeans to think carefully
before believing these sorts of stories that are cropping up quite often
recently. As we know the government will release a report soon on the foreign
manpower needs of companies in Singapore, so the timing is suspicious. With the
majority [5] of our economy being linked to government controlled companies, it
is actually the government more than private employers that will be impacted by
any changes – just look for example at SBS going all around China to hire bus
drivers [6]. There is therefore a real concern that the government will use
this so called “shortage of labour” to justify keeping things the way they are –
propping up Singapore’s economy with an unsustainable inflow of foreign workers,
either because they have run out of ideas on how to develop Singapore further,
or because they are not brave or intelligent enough to solve the long standing
problem of low productivity in our economy.
.
Andy Wong
[1] http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...38126400.53313.149772861740371&type=1&theater
[2]
http://www.tremeritus.com/2012/11/1...out-manpower-crunch-affecting-their-business/
[3]
http://www.tremeritus.com/2012/09/2...-in-2012-despite-pm-lees-promise-to-moderate/
[4]
http://www.tremeritus.com/2012/08/2...ntinues-to-increase-unabatedly-after-ge-2011/
[5]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Singapore
[6] http://www.tremeritus.com/2012/10/2...rom-town-to-town-in-china-to-recruit-drivers/
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