Are Foreigners Really Snatching Our Jobs?

Someone from my Army whatsapp group shared this post from The Independent Singapore somehow suggesting Singaporeans are being discriminated where jobs go to foreigners easily.

Being in HR, I know this message is not true and refuted it. First of all, having lived in UK and having fellow Singaporeans trying to find jobs in UK, I understand how difficult it is to find a job in UK as a foreigner, even more than in Singapore. So it is easier for foreigners to find a job in Singapore but whether is it 'easy' is subjective. It depends on what job.


MISREPRESENTATION 1: EASY TO FIND JOB FOR FOREIGNERS IN SINGAPORE

The person who was featured in the article is a makeup artist! Whether her job is still makeup artist, I do not know. Assuming it is still her profession, do majority Singaporeans want to be a makeup artist? If not, of course it is easy to find a makeup artist job! This is the makeup artist's youtube channel. This is her blog. This is likely her old facebook page (note Vintage Vision, the blog is mentioned). And this is likely her LinkedIn Page. Freelance Makeup Artist/Hairstylist is her background when in UK.

The other person featured was Joshua Robinson who didn't have a degree yet get a job in Singapore. Firstly, who tells you that you need a degree to get a job in Singapore? You think the foreign construction workers have degree? The need for a degree is usually a criteria for Employment Pass as mentioned in MOM website here. S Pass for Diploma at a minimum. He is a mixed martial arts instructor as this news article mentioned here. Do you think such a job need a degree?!


MISREPRESENTATION 2: WIDESPREAD DISCRIMINATION AGAINST LOCALS

Quoting 50 companies violating foreign manpower policy seems like widespread if you just look at the nominal amount of companies BUT how many companies are there in Singapore?

In reference to Singapore Statistics report, page 12, in 2015 alone, there are almost 65k business entities in Singapore. 50 is like 0.08% of all business entities only! Even with 250 in the watchlist, that is like 0.4%?

If anyone is arguing "hey... but it is increasing in numbers". My reply? "Of course! At early stage of discovery of anything, you will definitely find more following initial discovery! Do you expect the numbers to decrease?" But just because numbers are increasing doesn't mean it is widespread. After 250, it may go up more or go down depending on the stage of discovery. Until full exploration, it is hard to judge if it is widespread. We should look at proportion of total business entities and not on nominal amount alone and blow it up influencing irrational policies that put good behaving companies at disadvantage.

There are companies struggling because of quota being stricter. Look at 4:20 of the video above. If companies cannot perform optimally, they will be forced to leave. Singaporeans will then lose jobs instead of saving jobs for them! This irrationality and exaggeration doesn't help Singapore! This video has many valid arguments. If free, have a look at it.


IT IS GETTING HARDER FOR FOREIGNERS TO GET A JOB IN SINGAPORE

There is a trend of EP being downgraded to S Pass even when EP criteria has been met. It happened to some people I know and the recruitment agency I worked with also saw such trend. So it is false to say Government is not doing anything. In fact, I felt it may have been overdone.


MISREPRESENTATION 3: INCREASING NUMBERS OF FOREIGNERS = EVIDENCE OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST LOCALS

A counter-argument against me was raised that foreign manpower increases over the years as can be seen here and that local population growth rate has been decreasing as reflected here. Sounds legit argument? No.

This argument is overly simplistic. How can you say this is an evidence without looking at the growth of jobs, the trends for locals, the supply of locals and etc? That data isn't even apple vs. apple to begin with. You are comparing a working age foreigner vs. entire Singapore local population instead of working age locals.

In view of working age locals, local manpower also increased over the years. Have a look at the growth in resident manpower supply here. This doesn't mean they are employed of course. The unemployed rate for local residence has been quite stable at around 2.87 since 2010 as reflected in Resident Unemployment Rate and Number data. In translating that data into trends, the growth employment for residents (as based on the data on 'Number of Persons In The Labour Force Aged Fifteen Years and Over' is:

2012: 2,060,000 out of 2,119,600 employed (97.2% employment rate, 2.8% unemployment rate)
2013: 2,078,913 out of 2,138,800 employed (97.2% employment rate, 2.8% unemployment rate)
2014: 2,126,200 out of 2,185,200 employed (97.3% employment rate, 2.7% unemployment rate)
2015: 2,169,796 out of 2,232,300 employed (97.2% employment rate, 2.8% unemployment rate)
2016: 2,189,872 out of 2,257,600 employed (97.0% employment rate, 3.0% unemployment rate) - preliminary data only, not finalised

Even Singaporean/PR nominal amount of people employed also increased over the years. So does more foreign manpower mean Singaporeans/PR get discriminated? No. This is a positive correlation. Instead, it may instead suggest that job growth for locals is dependent of foreign manpower!


MISREPRESENTATION 4: FOREIGNERS COMPETING JOBS WITH LOCALS

Is it true that foreigners are competing jobs for locals?

2016 data:

EP: 189,600 (13.5%) VS. 760,400 residents with degree (33.7%)
S Pass: 179,400 (12.8%) VS. 438,700 residents with Diploma & Professional Qualification (19.4%)
Other lower tier Work Visa: 1,035,700 (85%) VS. 1,058,400 residents with highest qualification below a diploma (46.9%)

Data for Foreign Manpower is from here. Data for residents can be found here under 'Resident Labour Force by Highest Qualification Attained and Sex'.

This isn't entirely an apple vs. apple comparison because the latter data on resident is on labour force which says little of whether or not they are employed. However, with only 3.0% unemployment rate, it has little influence on the big difference from the current proportion stated here.

You can see from this data that locals aren't really discriminated against. Bulk of quality jobs (S Pass & above) are still given to locals. Those that really suffered are the low-skilled workforce which is recognised by Government like cleaners. Things like workfare are being done to help them. More can be done but to say nothing has been done is an unfair statement.


MISREPRESENTATION 5: GOVERNMENT STATISTICS CANNOT BE TRUSTED

Total foreign manpower for 2016 is 1,404,700. Someone argued that data is inconsistent citing, total foreigners in Singapore population is 1.67 million as reflected here. Are all foreigners working in Singapore? Foreign students are non-existent is it (which consists of 66,800 persons)? Dependants of Citizens/PRs/Work Pass Holders who are foreigners living in Singapore without working also non-existent is it (which consists 267,200 persons)? These groups consists of 20% (which is 334,000 persons). 1.67 million less 334,000 is 1,336,000 which is more or less tallied (it differs likely due to difference in period of statistical data collection within the year and some statistical error which is quite minimal).

Breakdown can be found here in this news.


STOP EXAGGERATION

There are definitely exceptions of discrimination against locals BUT please do not blow things out of proportion misleading public and influencing them to harm themselves by doing irrational things. When public use their election votes to threaten government to react to tighten foreign manpower even more, it can make companies not able to perform optimally, discourages others to invest in Singapore and existing ones to stay. The supply of manpower is very important. Singapore's labour market is becoming too tight (i.e. hard to hire people quick enough). To reduce dependence on foreigners, we need to use more technology. But the embrace of technology by locals is kind of slow. Local cohort of IT programmes in local Universities as I was told by locals in those programmes are like less than 20%. If we overdo the control of foreigners (the interim solution until we catch up on technological adoption), we may force employers to leave Singapore. When they leave, so will jobs be created for Singaporeans/PR. Will this make anyone happier?

Many of these anti-Government articles are heavily biased, written by ignorant Singaporeans who are not well-trained in research and data analysis. These created lots of 'noises' making valid arguments against policies being 'drowned' in the noises that cannot be easily be discovered.

In order for Singapore to maintain its competitiveness, it is important to be innovative. Innovativeness has to do with diversity too. Foreigners need to learn how to integrate with us but this takes time and we also need to stop being irrational xenophobic behaviour and embrace this diversity. When we are welcoming, foreigners will be more willing to interact with us and only so can ideas be exchanged to add innovation.