How will foreign talent affect Singapore’s development?

What you will learn today:
What are the benefits of Foreign Talent?
How will Foreign Talent hinder Singapore’s development?
How Singapore has affected the Foreign Talent & their way of living?
How & why Singapore attracts Foreign Talent over?

Introduction
Foreign Talent can help Singapore economically, socially and culturally.
 However, it should not be over-hyped.
They are essential for the continuation of Singapore's prosperity and progress.
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Singapore has a small range of talents and skills.
To make up for what we do not have.

Why so we need to attract foreign talent?
To make up for the lack of talent or skills of our locals, which will help in boosting our economy.
To improve the workforce in Singapore as a whole.
Singaporeans will strive harder.
Government wants Singapore to be a more cosmopolitan and vibrant city.

Immigrants are not the threat. The threat lies in the people who discriminate against locals in favor of foreign talents.

Think through what’ve learnt in
Social Studies.

How Singapore affect foreign talent & their standard of living?
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Provide job opportunities.
Developed Singapore allowed them to raise their standard of living.

Emphasizes on the development of Singapore.

Negative impacts of
Foreign Talent
Cash Outflow
Capital Investment
Crime Rate
Labour Costs

Cash Outflow
Not significantly excessive.
Substantial part of income will be spent in Singapore due to high cost of living.

Capital Investment
Over-reliant on foreign labour
 Foreign labour cheaper
 Led to little capital investments
Not as efficient as machines

Crime Rate
Increase in Crime Rate
> 900 foreigners arrested for crimes like armed robbery, molest, vehicle thefts, shoplifting & possession of weapons between January – June 1996 (ST, 3 rd
October 1996)
Increase in immigration offences, like overstaying & illegal employment. (ST, 11 th
September 1996)

Labour Costs
Do you agree that by employing foreign labour reduces labour costs?
As the wages of foreign workers are lower than locals.

Labour Costs
Misconception
Employers had forgotten to impute hidden costs of employing foreign workers.
Costs Included:
 Accommodation
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Foreign Worker Levy
Quality & Productivity Costs
Resources to Care for immigrants & integrate them into our community

Benefits of Foreign Talent
Economic Growth
Education
Culture & Tolerance
Working Mothers
Create awareness
Foreign Expertise

Economic Growth
Plays significant role
Increased inflow of foreign talent
 Added 1.5% to 2% to economy’s growth since 1992

Education
Teachers have positive influence on foreign students.
For Example, Mr. Kurt Kuehne @ Hua Yi

Culture & Tolerance
Interaction with foreigners exposes us to their culture, makes us more tolerant of them.
Interaction allows us to appreciate the differences in culture in terms of language, religion and festivals.
Better understanding of their working styles & attitudes.
Local television benefited from the talent and expertise of many foreigners who help to improve standard of local art.

Working Mothers
Availability of foreign maids > working mothers.
Use of foreign domestic help on social implications for family.
Example, upbringing of the children
& impact on family unit.

Create Awareness
For example, Li Jia Wei (foreign talent) won a Silver
Medal in the Olympics’08, in which brought Singapore to known to the world.

Foreign Expertise
Significant impact on locals
For example, the construction of the Singapore Mass
Rapid Transit (MRT) would not have been possible without the contribution of foreign labour.
Contributes to Singapore in terms of:
 Technology
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Research and Development
Education
Sports

Other factors affecting
Foreign Talent
Cross-Nationality Marriages
Improve Competitiveness
Sports
Retraining
Job & Promotion Opportunities
Congregation of Foreign Workers
Property & Rental Market

Cross-Nationality Marriages
Presence of foreigners working here have resulted in more cross-nationality marriages.
For Example, professionals & workers

Improve Competitiveness
With the introduction of foreign talent, locals would feel insecure about their jobs and strive to improve themselves in order to keep up with the competition.
As a result, many of them would strive to upgrade themselves, so as to be better equipped to take on the competition.
Competitiveness in the country among the people increases.

Sports
Foreign coaches & players improved standard of sports in
Singapore.
For Example: Li Jia Wei (Table Tennis), Tao Li (Swimming) &
Ronald Susilo (Badminton)
Exposure to foreign players can improve the skills of local players.
Concentrating too much on foreign players can lead to a lack of exposure for local players.

Retraining
Dependence on foreign labour led us to neglect retraining of locals
Retraining on locals is not an issue as foreigners are not competing for the same jobs.
Most foreigners are recruited to fill up jobs not wanted/cannot be filled by locals who lack the requisite skills or expertise

Jobs & Promotion
Opportunities
Jobs & Promotion Opportunities are affected somehow.
Hiring the foreign workers is cheaper than to local workers.
Government’s selective immigration policy helps to ensure that locals are not easily displayed by foreign labour.

Congregation of Foreign Workers
Provides business opportunities for many local shopowners.
Example @ Boat Quay, The Golden Mile Complex houses, Thai supermarkets etc to carter the needs of other nationals working here.

Property & Rental Market
Important to make a distinction between foreign labour and foreign investors
Foreign investors responsible for pushing up property prices
Property markets are protected from foreign ownership. The hike in property prices is largely cause by local spectators

Group’s View
Singapore should not over-stress on the need for foreign talents as it can do damage to the social fabric in Singapore.
For example, Singaporeans may feel like second-class citizens instead of the owners of the country.

Proudly Presented By:
Lee Seow Ting (06)
Loh Hui Ming (08)
Sharon Yeoh Ming Hui (14)
Matilda Tang Swee Sun (17)
4E3’09! 