Foreign Talent and Singapore

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong mentioned two years ago that “if we want our economy to grow, if we want to be strong internationally, then we need a growing population.” In other words, the population of Singapore needs to be large enough to ensure that economy can grow. However, statistics have shown that last year, the number of citizen births rose by a mere 0.9%, or an average of 28,000 births per year. So, the other option will be to introduce foreign talents into Singapore. The foreign talent policy has since caused much discussion among Singapore citizens. I certainly agree that foreign talents are beneficial to Singaporeans. Foreign talents refer to those who have achievements or skilled in bio-medicine research, technology and other related jobs as well as those who come to our tertiary institutions to impart their knowledge to our students. Students with great potential migrating to Singapore to study can also be considered as “foreign talents”. Those who have migrated to Singapore working as clerks, store assistants, secretaries, etc. are not considered foreign talents. They are considered as “foreign workers”.

Foreign talents are definitely helpful to Singaporeans. Foreign talents add value to the Singapore’s workforce and can even exchange valuable knowledge and experiences they have obtained in their hometown or other places with our local expertise. This co-operation with our local workforce can definitely help to improve the efficiency of the workforce and thus help to improve Singapore’s economic. The foreign talent can also transports the technique they use in their homeland and adapt it in Singapore, making Singapore more competitive compared to other countries. Also, as these foreign talents normally migrate to Singapore from places where it is poorer, the living conditions are not that good and they could not find a suitable job, they often tend to settle for lower pay unlike locals. This can help to slow down the demand for higher wages and through this, it helps to keep the economic competitive.

Besides economic increase, foreign talents also bring with them their culture when they migrate to Singapore. As Singapore is a country with many cultures and a crossroad of the east and the west, these new cultures brought here by the foreigners will definitely merge into the society. With cultures from around the world, Singapore can really be considered as a global city as there are people of different origins living side by side of each other.

Despite all these benefits, many are still not convinced that foreign talent will benefit the locals and aid in Singapore’s economy. Singaporeans feels threatened by these foreign talents as they tend to be at a disadvantage when compared to those foreign talents. For example, Singaporeans have other duties besides that of work, including those locals with great talents. Thus, they are unable to work overtime whereas foreign talents are willing to. This disadvantage, as claimed by many locals, can cause them difficulties when looking for a job. Even students mention that they have difficulties in obtaining scholarships as those foreign talents often do very well. This is completely unjustified; as long as there is fair competition and no rampant undercutting of wages resulting in overall decline in welfare, there is no reason to feel threatened by foreigners. Foreign talents may indeed be more hardworking and less demanding with good attitude, locals also have their own advantages: They are able to pick up things faster than foreigners. As such, locals’ fear of foreign talents taking away their jobs are unjustified.

In conclusion, the introduction of foreign talents brings more benefits than harm to Singaporeans and Singapore’s economy. Although foreign talents do indeed have certain advantages, it does not mean that they have no disadvantages. Thus, locals do not have to fear about foreign talents taking away their chances of employment or scholarships. Therefore, the introduction of foreign talent in Singapore is beneficial to Singaporeans.