My Thoughts on ESC Reports on Foreign Workers

The dilemma of having foreign workers is as vexing as not having them. Singapore needs these foreign workers to feed the economic boom, foreign workers are able to fill the void and do jobs Singaporeans are not willing to do yet there is a growing social pressure against them. The two main levers in managing the tap of the foreign workers flow are the imposition of dependency ratio and levies. These are old tools which did not significantly discourage the employment of the foreign workers. Despite the tiered levy formula, the rate of employment of foreign workers did not see any contraction year on year.



The impending increase in levy, in actuality, will not dampen the need for hiring foreign workers. Most of these workers are in hot and dirty environment or the 3D trade- dirty, dangerous and debasing. This is the bottom of the pyramid paradox – where the bottom jobs are unwanted by Singaporeans and when filled by foreigners, social pressure mounts. Work at this stratum has no serious takers and the employers have inelastic demand for foreign workers notwithstanding how high the levy may be. This can be counter-productive as it will increase the real cost of operation without increasing any real output. Most of these jobs are dead-end roles. There can be limit to how much job re-design and re-configuration can improve on the prospect for these 3D jobs.



Saving jobs for Singaporeans should be at pointed and focused at the middle section of the pyramid where there is space for productivity gains through up-skilling and training.



The million-dollar question is where to set the base of the pyramid where the levy application can be considerate to these employers since they have an inelastic demand for foreign workers. Above that baseline of the pyramid, a tiered levy formula will apply at the middle section.



At the end, we need synergistic workforces and cooperation at the multiple hierarchies in the job pyramid structure. Singaporeans or foreign workers will be work force of peers and working towards the prosperity of Singapore.