Foreigners: Good or Bad?
Ok, with the recent debacle on foreign talent, as well as the easing of regulations in Singapore to foreigners, I think I should throw in my 3 cents worth.
I can understand the common Singaporean woes of having more ‘foreign talent’ in Singapore. From the viewpoint of a student, you find it stressful that some of these foreigners are just so hardworking, so much more knowledgeable than us, and they do set such a high benchmark that inevitably, they just grabbed the honors from our institutions (especially so in the maths and sciences). It can be so extreme that we actually doubt their ability to play, and enjoy life because they just seemed to be studying perpetually.
As a national serviceman, I’m sure you are irked with how first generation male PRs can just become Singapore citizens without serving NS! It’s like they got the same benefits as us, so why is it that they don’t have to spend 2 years of their life serving the nation? And don’t forget, we are helping to protect the foreigners too, and not just our family.
I guess the biggest complaints are from the jobs sectors, as these foreign talents are indeed competing for the same rice bowl as all of us are. With their arrival, some of them might take away our rightful jobs and leave us jobless and unemployed. Furthermore, they end up buying property in land-scarce Singapore, which means they are depriving of homes!
Ok, I admit my previous paragraph sounds pretty fallacious and unjustifiable. Well, as an economist, I think maybe I should justify the government’s policy.
For starters, the above issues are experienced in many countries around the world; Hong Kong, USA, UK, etc. The issue of migrants going to another country to live and work is occurring thanks to the globalized world.
And I will say by removing the barriers that impede the flow of human capital, i.e. immigration rules, it will be better for the world. From a technical point of view, if let’s say people are unhappy with their current situation, they should be allowed to move to a place which they want to, hence boosting their happiness level. Likewise, their skills should also be easily moveable, and hence be diverted to the areas in which their skills can reap the greatest benefits.
So what does this mean? Yes, the foreign students are taking up most of the academic awards in our institutions, but let us not forget that that is what Singaporeans are doing in top institutions in the US or the UK. Well, it’s like I personally know a friend who scored a cap of 4.2 in his first year in a top US university when the maximum cap is 4! Anyway, we are also learning from our foreign friends too. I guess we should not restrict ourselves to the local community, and instead mingle more. They are in a way, a source of motivation? To me, I think they are important as they can teach us more about their cultures and systems, and also allow us to build up networks in distant places. Having more friends does help in this world.
On national service, well I guess defense is indeed a free good and we can’t simply exclude the ‘foreign talents’ from enjoying it. Well, let’s face it, the foreigners have to contribute to CPF and they do pay taxes, so in a way, they do help to pay for the upkeep of Singapore. The issue on serving NS, I will say the 2nd generation PRs need to do that (as what the papers highlighted on 2 scholars who just gained citizenship). So it is not that unfair.
Hmm, I will say the biggest benefit to Singapore is more on the jobs sector. We really need foreigners to come and help us fill up jobs. Let’s face it, Singaporeans tend to be rather picky over certain jobs (especially those jobs that have a lousy work environment), and it will be bad for our economy if these jobs remained vacant. Thus, foreign workers are there to ensure that our engines of growth will not be stagnant or impeded. On top of that, there are some sectors that we are moving into in which we do need foreign talents to help as we lack the knowledge, for example, the bio-medical sectors. So these foreigners actually do have a key economic role to play.
As to land and property, well that is not really much of an issue. To me, the recent shortfall in demand faced by HDB actually shows that we do have the capability to cater to more than just the local’s demand.
Well, I hope that I actually provided some economic justification to the government’s policy. Looking at the macro picture (as well as the long run), having foreigners is the way to go forward. Can you imagine the reverse? If everyone just decides to coop up in his own country, eats local produce, interact with your fellow countrymen only… Quite disastrous right?
I can understand the common Singaporean woes of having more ‘foreign talent’ in Singapore. From the viewpoint of a student, you find it stressful that some of these foreigners are just so hardworking, so much more knowledgeable than us, and they do set such a high benchmark that inevitably, they just grabbed the honors from our institutions (especially so in the maths and sciences). It can be so extreme that we actually doubt their ability to play, and enjoy life because they just seemed to be studying perpetually.
As a national serviceman, I’m sure you are irked with how first generation male PRs can just become Singapore citizens without serving NS! It’s like they got the same benefits as us, so why is it that they don’t have to spend 2 years of their life serving the nation? And don’t forget, we are helping to protect the foreigners too, and not just our family.
I guess the biggest complaints are from the jobs sectors, as these foreign talents are indeed competing for the same rice bowl as all of us are. With their arrival, some of them might take away our rightful jobs and leave us jobless and unemployed. Furthermore, they end up buying property in land-scarce Singapore, which means they are depriving of homes!
Ok, I admit my previous paragraph sounds pretty fallacious and unjustifiable. Well, as an economist, I think maybe I should justify the government’s policy.
For starters, the above issues are experienced in many countries around the world; Hong Kong, USA, UK, etc. The issue of migrants going to another country to live and work is occurring thanks to the globalized world.
And I will say by removing the barriers that impede the flow of human capital, i.e. immigration rules, it will be better for the world. From a technical point of view, if let’s say people are unhappy with their current situation, they should be allowed to move to a place which they want to, hence boosting their happiness level. Likewise, their skills should also be easily moveable, and hence be diverted to the areas in which their skills can reap the greatest benefits.
So what does this mean? Yes, the foreign students are taking up most of the academic awards in our institutions, but let us not forget that that is what Singaporeans are doing in top institutions in the US or the UK. Well, it’s like I personally know a friend who scored a cap of 4.2 in his first year in a top US university when the maximum cap is 4! Anyway, we are also learning from our foreign friends too. I guess we should not restrict ourselves to the local community, and instead mingle more. They are in a way, a source of motivation? To me, I think they are important as they can teach us more about their cultures and systems, and also allow us to build up networks in distant places. Having more friends does help in this world.
On national service, well I guess defense is indeed a free good and we can’t simply exclude the ‘foreign talents’ from enjoying it. Well, let’s face it, the foreigners have to contribute to CPF and they do pay taxes, so in a way, they do help to pay for the upkeep of Singapore. The issue on serving NS, I will say the 2nd generation PRs need to do that (as what the papers highlighted on 2 scholars who just gained citizenship). So it is not that unfair.
Hmm, I will say the biggest benefit to Singapore is more on the jobs sector. We really need foreigners to come and help us fill up jobs. Let’s face it, Singaporeans tend to be rather picky over certain jobs (especially those jobs that have a lousy work environment), and it will be bad for our economy if these jobs remained vacant. Thus, foreign workers are there to ensure that our engines of growth will not be stagnant or impeded. On top of that, there are some sectors that we are moving into in which we do need foreign talents to help as we lack the knowledge, for example, the bio-medical sectors. So these foreigners actually do have a key economic role to play.
As to land and property, well that is not really much of an issue. To me, the recent shortfall in demand faced by HDB actually shows that we do have the capability to cater to more than just the local’s demand.
Well, I hope that I actually provided some economic justification to the government’s policy. Looking at the macro picture (as well as the long run), having foreigners is the way to go forward. Can you imagine the reverse? If everyone just decides to coop up in his own country, eats local produce, interact with your fellow countrymen only… Quite disastrous right?
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