DPM: Can’t rely on increase in labour to grow economy
June 20th, 2014
Speaking at the annual general meeting of the Singapore International Chamber of Commerce today (20 Jan), DPM Teo Chee Hean said that Singapore needs to move towards higher value-added activities and innovations to grow the economy.
He said that as Singapore’s economy matures, the country “cannot rely on a linear increase in labour, land, or resources such as energy to grow our economy”.
To achieve sustainable growth, Singapore has to move towards higher value-added activities and innovations, he said.
Mr Teo also commented that Singapore has served as a useful base for global businesses looking to make inroads into Asia.
Singapore has to position itself where it can add the most value, and evolve with changing circumstances, as Asia’s growth and the rising affluence of its growing middle class presents immense business opportunities, he said.
Then, at a union event on Monday (16 Jun), NTUC Secretary-General Lim Swee Say revealed that last year’s 3.9% growth in GDP was largely fueled by an increase in manpower.
The labour force grew by 4.1% last year. Pointing to the 3% increase in job vacancies in the last quarter, he said this rate of growth is unsustainable.
“Yes, I think we see high job vacancies, but at the same time, we have to ask ourselves: Instead of looking for more ways to bring in more manpower into our workforce, how can (we) make better use of every person that is already in our workforce?”
Before 2011 GE when PAP garnered the lowest percentage votes, the government appeared to be adopting a different strategy to grow the economy.
At the National Day Rally in 2010, PM Lee said:
This year, with the booming economy, we will definitely need more foreign workers so that we can create more jobs in Singapore.
A few months ago, I mentioned to the press that we could need more than 100,000 foreign workers more this year. There was a big ooh which you could almost hear. Well, since then, we have recalculated. Maybe, we will get by with a few less, perhaps 80,000 workers. But I said this to highlight the trade-off which we face and which we cannot avoid. You want higher growth which will benefit our workers, that also means accepting more foreign workers to come and work in Singapore.
You choke off the foreign workers, the economy is stifled, growth is not there, our workers will suffer.
In other words, PM Lee was then saying that to grow the economy, it needs more foreign workers.A few months ago, I mentioned to the press that we could need more than 100,000 foreign workers more this year. There was a big ooh which you could almost hear. Well, since then, we have recalculated. Maybe, we will get by with a few less, perhaps 80,000 workers. But I said this to highlight the trade-off which we face and which we cannot avoid. You want higher growth which will benefit our workers, that also means accepting more foreign workers to come and work in Singapore.
You choke off the foreign workers, the economy is stifled, growth is not there, our workers will suffer.
This economic strategy used by the Government at the time was again confirmed in April this year, during a meeting between PM Lee and the Asian editors at the Istana.
Pana Janviroj from Thai newspaper, The Nation, asked PM Lee, “When we met you about eight years ago, Singapore was a regional city. Now, Singapore is a world city. You are pulling away, perhaps from the different economic standards of Asean, in a league of your own. Are there any things you have done that have exceeded your expectations?”
PM Lee answered [Link]:
If you look back over the last decade, I think overall, we have done economically better than we expected, grown faster. It’s partly because the winds were favourable and the markets were open, investments came in. It’s also partly because we decided that we would catch the wind when it blew, and we would go with it. So we said, let’s put in the resources, let’s bring in the foreign workers we need, let’s grow, because tomorrow I don’t know whether the opportunity would be there.
The question is, why didn’t the government think of growing Singapore’s economy through higher value-added activities and innovations then?
Why is it that only when Singaporeans get angry after enduring the huge influx of foreign workers, that the government decides to sing a different song?
What do you think?
TR EMERITUS
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