“You can’t say I’ll send all the foreign workers and everything will be fine tomorrow.”
Singapore needs talent to excel on the planet, he said. “And you can never have enough talent.”
While the Prime Minister acknowledged that Singaporeans have legitimate concerns concerning the social impact of latest arrivals, he identified that there are some jobs – corresponding to construction – that Singaporeans are not looking for.
Singapore’s dependence on foreign construction employees got here into the highlight throughout the height of the pandemic, when labor shortages attributable to Covid-19 border restrictions and quarantines led to delays within the implementation of many housing projects.
In other sectors, more labor is required to perform tasks on a bigger scale – beyond the positions Singaporeans can fill, Lee said.
“And if I can have 10 or 20 percent more engineers, technicians or health care workers, I will be able to do a lot more things and I will be more productive. But I can’t take 10 percent of people and then become 10 percent smarter and faster just by myself.
When it comes to people’s concerns about foreigners – such as dilution, values and social influence – the government needs to “feel our way forward and go as far as politically possible.”
In Singapore, the city is the countryside – unlike other large cities such as London. Therefore, there must be cohesion and a strong sense of values and identity, he said.
Lee said bringing in foreigners could enrich the identity of Singaporean society.
“They bring talent, they bring experience, they bring a different perspective on things. But at the same time, you dilute it, at least temporarily, because they don’t have the same background.
He gave the example of Singaporeans, Chinese and Singaporeans, who are different from those coming from China and India.
Lee noted that some countries’ foreign talent strategies are not viable in the Singapore context. For example, the United Arab Emirates attracts many foreigners while using its oil wealth to meet the needs of its residents.
But Singapore needs to attract talent “in a controlled way” that complements local workers and professionals rather than putting them out of work, Lee said.
This should also be done in a way that does not dilute the country’s “social norms and mores and Singapore’s way of doing things, without causing friction and conflict,” he added.
He noted that in addition to ensuring Singapore has sufficient infrastructure for foreign workers, other factors such as entertainment options on weekends also need to be taken into account.
“Part of it is educating people who come here that this is Singapore. Please respect Singaporean standards and certain things you can do in your home country. Please take care of yourself and don’t do it here.”
It can be necessary for Singaporeans to grasp the importance of attracting foreign talent and strive to point out hospitality and hospitality, Lee said.
He also emphasized that Singapore doesn’t have “much room for maneuver” on this matter.
“From time to time we have a debate in parliament and the opposition says: storm and stress (German for storm and stress): “Why so many?” And we say: do you want to cut it all off and allow all small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to have no foreign worker quotas? And they say, ‘No, no, no, that’s not what we mean, we also feel sorry for SMEs,'” Lee said.
Such a policy would impact not only employers, but also Singaporean employees of small and medium-sized enterprises and multinational companies, where without the presence of foreign workers, the company would not be here, he explained.
“We have no choice but to work very hard to find a way that we can have our cake and eat as much of it as possible.”
Lee has been raising the difficulty of social integration of foreign employees for a while.
During the 2021 National Day rally, he touched on this topic, saying that the majority work pass holders and their families actually slot in quite well.
“After living here for several years, some people speak Singlish, others like sambal belachan and even durian!” he said then.
Lee then stressed that Singapore must not seem like becoming xenophobic and hostile towards foreigners as this may damage the country’s repute as a world center.
Citing the present community of Indian employees in Singapore, Lee said Singaporeans are noticing the influx since the numbers are “not small”.
However, these are talented individuals who’re very invaluable to Singapore and “we must always welcome them by managing the flow,” he added.
Lee also said that outside India, Singapore has the very best concentration of graduates from the Indian Institute of Technology and the Indian Institute of Management.
Both universities are top universities in India and getting a spot in certainly one of them is comparable to stepping into the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University or Harvard University, he said.
These professionals have formed associations in Singapore and hold positions on occasion. “If I can get a pool like this and come here and work here, that would be a huge plus for us.”
Lee also acknowledged that older employees are concerned about their profession prospects.
“Statistically, your chances of working as an older person in Singapore are very high,” he said.
In terms of employment rates by age, the figure for employees of their 50s and 60s is high and rising, and “good in comparison with many other advanced economies,” Lee said.
“Many people, like me, work well into their 60s and sometimes into their 70s.” said Lee, who will turn 72 this yr.
“And I’m actually glad I have this job because it gives you something to do. It’s purposeful, it’s not just about making money, but I wake up in the morning, there’s something I want to do in my life.”
Singapore’s population is aging rapidly. By 2030, roughly one in 4 Singaporeans can be aged 65 and over.
Lee said that with a labor shortage in Singapore’s economy, older employees must be valued and utilized.
Workplaces should be adapted in order that older employees can perform these roles, and as employees age, they should be trained to handle recent positions, he added.
“They may have to change careers because the industry has changed and the old position no longer exists, so they will have to change to another job or even change industries,” he said.
As an example, he cited the changing role of bank tellers within the financial industry.
“They sit there, you come in, they smile, they cut your passbook and then they do the transaction. But now everyone uses ATMs,” he said.
Banks are training tellers to reassign them to other positions within the system reasonably than simply laying them off. Some of them turn out to be customer support specialists, for instance, Lee added.
“You need them because ATMs are good, but you want the personal touch,” he said.
“If you’re frustrated by the ATM and you press the help button, you want someone there to smile, and more – if you don’t know how to press that button, press two. And then you’re faced with a robot voice and you get very frustrated. They’re there, a face appears, smiles, says, “How can I help you” as a real person, and talks to you about it.
Lee said the employment landscape will continue to change. For example, the advent of artificial intelligence can free a real person from a specific task to do something else.
“We will work very hard to make sure he can do something different,” he said.
He highlighted the SkillsFuture movement and the creation of a dedicated SkillsFuture Singapore organization as a part of the national effort on this area.
Lee also pointed to the A$4,000 ($3,000) SkillsFuture grant on this yr’s budget that Singaporeans aged 40 and over will receive from this month. Younger Singaporeans will receive the identical amount after they turn 40.
The A$4,000 amount can be more targeted and might only be used for chosen training programs, Deputy Prime Minister Wong, who can be Finance Minister, announced in February.
This includes part-time and full-time, postgraduate and undergraduate programs in addition to sector-specific courses on a progressive pay model, he said.
The existing basic credit level of S$500 might be used for a wide selection of courses.
“It’s not that small of an amount, but it shows how seriously we take it and how much we want you to go and improve and increase your capabilities,” Lee said.
