100,000 more people coming your way!

When I arrived in Singapore on Sunday night, I noticed something new about the arrivals hall. Next to the customs officials checking passports was the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority office.

Perhaps I’ve been completely oblivious every other time I’ve walked through the airport, but I would have sworn that the office was never that big before – if it had been there at all. There were plush sofas, glass doors and desks with friendly warm lighting, and there were immigration officers there to help foreigners with their “visa on arrival” issues, or even to sort out their Permanent Residency for them. The place was bustling with activity, with newly arrived families from China seated on the comfy couches.

My first thought was, “Wow, we have so many immigrants that we need a large permanent office in the airport to sort them out!”

My second thought was, “Why do we have so many immigrants that we need a large permanent office in the airport to sort them out?”

And then of course, this morning I see this article: ‘Foreign worker influx is good‘.

Don’t you love the headline? It makes such a bold statement. Foreign worker influx = Good. So brilliant, so simple. It practically promises you that once you read the article, you will be utterly, utterly convinced that it’s AMAZINGGGGGG that we’re going to have so many more foreigners joining our workforce.

Until, of course, you actually break down the article…

THE influx of more than 100,000 foreign workers this year shows the strength of job creation in Singapore and is not cause for concern, labour chief Lim Swee Say said on Wednesday.

Local workers should not fear, for the labour movement will still focus on upgrading their skills, he added.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on July 14 that more than 100,000 extra foreigners are set to enter the workforce this year.

Commenting on this, Mr Lim said: ‘It’s a good sign, because it shows that at a time when many countries are having a shortage of jobs, we are having a shortage of workers.‘

Speaking to reporters at the launch of a training scheme for the cleaning industry, Mr Lim added that the focus should not be on the number of foreign workers, but on their quality.

The 100,000 new workers will differ from the thousands who have entered over the past three to five years: they will be higher-skilled and more productive.

“It’s a good sign, because it shows that at a time when many countries are having a shortage of jobs, we are having a shortage of workers.”
I’m not even going to talk about the not-so-subtle sneaking in of the “we win other country!” ideology, because I’m not sure that there are many people who actually pay attention to it anymore.

What concerns me is this: if we have a shortage of workers, it means we have a surplus of jobs, right. Well, WHERE ARE THEY? If we are having such a surplus of jobs that we need 100,000 more foreign workers, then why do we still have an increasing number of redundant/unemployed Singaporean citizens? If Singapore is such a land of milk and honey, why is the number of families in financial difficulties sky-rocketing? Why are there more homeless people every time I look?

Neither the Prime Minister, the labour chief nor the ST article goes into why these 100,000 jobs aren’t being filled by Singaporeans. I have a feeling that even if they do, they will talk about how Singaporeans are choosy and picky and don’t want these jobs. I would then ask that they look into why Singaporeans will not or cannot take these jobs. Look at the work conditions. Look at the pay. Then look at the Singaporeans’ financial and social burdens. It never matches.

“The 100,000 new workers will differ from the thousands who have entered over the past three to five years: they will be higher-skilled and more productive.”
I don’t see how this is supposed to make us feel any better. The issue here is not actually the quality of these new workers; it’s about the necessity of having these workers at all.

Good Lord, I feel like I’m back at debate camp up against a team who got the motion wrong.

Of course, there’s the veiled insult of it all; the implication that they need these 100,000 “higher-skilled and more productive” workers because Singaporeans simply aren’t cutting it. Again, please, verify this instead of just saying it. Look at how hard an average Singaporean works. And if it’s not enough for you, look at the why. Singaporeans are some of the hardest workers I have ever met, and this is a fact that is widely acknowledged around the world. Suggesting that we are simply not highly-skilled or productive enough is a gross insult, not only to the people, but to the education system of Singapore.

So I suggest the labour chief also has a word with the Education Minister.

And need I point out the implicit admission that the thousands of workers who have entered over the past 3 – 5 years were actually not very highly-skilled or productive at all?

“Local workers should not fear, for the labour movement will still focus on upgrading their skills.”
Again: THIS IS NOT WHAT THE LOCAL WORKERS ARE PARTICULARLY WORRIED ABOUT.

They have no time to worry about whether their skills are getting upgraded or not, because they are way too tired out trying not to lose their jobs to foreigners in the first place.

Most countries around the world protect their citizens, doing their best to save jobs for the locals. Many of them have policies that positions can only be filled by foreigners if the employer can show that there aren’t any locals available with the necessary qualifications. This is the situation Singaporeans – such as myself – have and will face whenever we go overseas in search of employment. If our own country isn’t going to protect us and employ us, no one out there is going to step in and help us out.