Immigration

According to the International Migration Report (2013) by the United Nations, the number of international migrants has increased to 232 million in 2013. The phenomenon of migration has increased over the years due to the fact that people are always in search of better living standards and job opportunities. This has brought about significant economic benefits for countries over the years. Home countries enjoy benefits from the flow of remittances while host countries reap productivity gains.

However, Migration has led to negative effects as well. Home countries may experience loss of highly skilled people in their workforce. In the long run, as the population decrease in size, productivity and economic growth may decline. Host Countries, on the other hand, may experience a surge in population which puts a strain on social infrastructure and services. This may create a sense of resentment among the local residents towards immigrants.

The influx of immigrants is necessary to sustain a healthy workforce number in Singapore. This allows Singapore to stay attractive and sustain economic prosperity. However, this has resulted in a sense of resentment towards foreigners. This is because Singaporeans feel that foreigners compete with them for jobs. Therefore, this essay will highlight the extent of increased job competition faced by the higher skilled workers in Singapore, the policies implemented to reduce its impact as well as propose improvements which the government and companies can undertake to further improve the solution.

According to the Department of Statistics, Ministry of Manpower (MOM), non-residents account for 1.60million out of the total population of 5.47million. Apart from that, it was estimated that Singapore’s population will fall between 6.5 to 6.9 million by 2030 (Government White Paper, 2013). With the increased numbers of immigrants, locals are getting more worried about the competition for jobs. It was reported by Cable News Network (CNN, 2014) that several thousands of Singaporeans went on a public protest at the Speaker’s Corner upon the government’s proposal to increase immigrant numbers. This showed that many locals were against the idea of having more foreigners in Singapore. The protest was the biggest political protest since 2000 (Bloomberg Business, 2014). In the article “Foreigners are taking our jobs, complain Singaporeans”, a 22-year-old Singaporean engineer trainee felt that there are not enough high level jobs for the locals as the expats are filling the positions instead (Lima, 2014).

In order to address the problem of increased job opportunities, the Fair Consideration Framework (FCF) has been designed to help Singaporeans and Permanent Residents be considered fairly for job opportunities. Before companies can employ an Employment Pass holder, the job vacancy has to be advertised on the Jobs Bank 14 days prior to that. This applies to jobs with a monthly income of less than $12,000 and companies with more than 25 employees.

With the framework put in place, companies are required to consider the locals first. Foreigners will only be considered when there are no suitable Singaporean candidates for the job vacancies. In this way, locals will have greater priority to secure jobs.

However there are some limitations. To hire Employment pass holders earning at least $3,300 a month, it is compulsory for companies to consider the locals first. This seems to only protect degree holders who earn a mean salary of $3500 (Straits Times, 2014) as it has not been made compulsory for firms applying to hire S pass or work permit holders to comply with the framework. It was made compulsory under this framework that companies have to advertise the job vacancies on Jobs bank 14 days in advance. However it is difficult to enforce this guidelines on companies and employers. After interviewing a number of Singaporeans who apply for the job, companies can conclude that none of the locals is suitable for the position and they employ a foreign talent instead.

To address the problem, the FCF can be improved by taking into consideration the interests of more Singaporeans. The framework can be extended to cover Singaporeans from low to mid income levels so that more residents can benefit from the framework. Additionally, for companies who want to hire foreigners, they will have to provide substantial reasons as to why the locals who apply to the job vacancies do not fit their employment requirements. MOM will assess the situation and only allow these companies to do so if locals are found to be unsuitable for the job positions. Employers are also encouraged to provide training for the local workforce. This can be done so by funding training programs for their employees where it helps to upgrade their skill sets thus allowing them to have an edge over their competitors in the job market.

In conclusion, the increased influx of immigrants had led to Singaporeans resenting the foreigners for the high job competition in Singapore. The FCF has been implemented to mitigate the problem but it is somewhat ineffective thus more can be done. The government can adopt more measures to protect low to mid income levels of Singaporeans from job competition. In addition, companies are encouraged