Comment: Getting the right foreign worker balance

The Covid-19 pandemic have prompted calls for a reduction in Singapore’s dependence on foreign workers. – Reuters

THE Covid-19 pandemic and the high levels of infections among foreign workers have prompted some academics and members of non-governmental organisations to call for a reduction in Singapore’s dependence on such workers. However, in a rare joint statement, the Chinese, Malay and Indian chambers of commerce, as well as trade and industry associations, have pushed back, urging the Singaporean government to adopt a considered and calibrated approach to foreign worker policies, rather than taking any precipitous action.

The issue of foreign workers and their place in the labour force should not be tied to the Covid-19 pandemic. While the outbreak in the republic has revealed that the living conditions of foreign workers must be improved, which is a work in progress, it should not be invoked as a rationale to change policies on foreign workers. Those policies should be determined by Singapore’s labour force and economic needs.