Confronting Singapore’s need for foreign manpower and talent, amid its ageing and shrinking workforce

One of the toughest balancing acts that successive Singapore’s leaders have had to manage over the decades is to bring in foreign talent to the city-state while mitigating the inevitable tensions that come with it. Way back in the 1980s, founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew had already spoken of the need to bring in skilled foreigners to spur Singaporean workers, and of the importance of expanding the talent pool given the country’s small population.

Some 40 years later, when Singapore was on the cusp of leadership change last month, both the then incumbent prime minister and his successor would also broach the thorny issue. 

Mr Lee Hsien Loong, in a media interview before handing over the reins to his deputy, Mr Lawrence Wong, described managing the “inherent tensions” between wanting social cohesion and bringing in immigrants as the “most difficult” issue he has had to deal with during his 20-year tenure as Singapore’s third prime minister. Mr Wong, who assumed the premiership on May 15, told The Economist weekly in an interview on May 6 that while Singapore welcomes foreign professionals, it will be carefully managed. “Because if it is not controlled, I think we will be easily swamped,” he said in the interview. 

In recent years, the manpower and talent issue in Singapore has taken on an added urgency as the nation grapples with the double whammy of falling birth rates and rapidly ageing population — which will add up to a drop in the number of working-age adults.

“Foreigners are actually useful, especially in certain high skilled areas where there are just not enough Singaporeans and not enough time to train the Singaporeans to take advantage of the economic opportunities,” said labour economist Walter Theseira.

Nonetheless, economic and political observers pointed out that the impact of bringing in foreigners goes beyond dollars and cents, and feathers have been ruffled due to social reasons too. They cautioned that further tightening supply or being even more selective in the foreign talent that the country brings in may not be most feasible as it would risk creating a shortage of skills and blunting Singapore’s competitiveness. 

As such, to soothe the feelings of unease and unhappiness among the citizenry, the Government and other stakeholders will need to address factors that go beyond jobs, such as making sure that Singaporeans feel their needs are sufficiently met in other aspects of their lives as well.