Balancing labour needs with S'pore workers' aspirations

When it comes to foreign talent, the PAP, WP and PSP agree on one thing — that Singapore needs them. Where they differ is on the numbers, roles they can take up, and safeguards needed so that Singaporeans get a fair shot to thrive in the workforce.

- Tay Hong Yi

The topic remains hotly debated, with the last five years marked by sea changes to the Republic's foreign talent framework, accompanied by measures to lift the local workforce.

Singapore must remain open to the world to stay competitive and support the needs of society, said Minister for Manpower Tan See Leng in the debate over the Ministry of Manpower's (MOM) latest budget in March.

Today, foreign-owned firms make up around 20 per cent of firms here and employ 60 per cent of Singapore residents in high-earning jobs that pay over $12,500 in gross monthly salary.

To the PAP government, the figures underscore the importance of attracting foreign investments and the global talent that follows such investments, in a way that complements local resident workforce growth and creates good jobs for Singaporeans.

But in a shift in recent years, it has also more pointedly recognised the anxieties Singaporeans have towards competition from the foreign workforce, and the benefits that accrue to locals.

In the current term of government that began in August 2020, the PAP has sought to make the foreign and local workforce more complementary to each other.

Measures were rolled out or tweaked to spur employers to be more judicious and hire foreigners with skills that firms truly needed, while also encouraging businesses to rework their processes to create more and better jobs for Singaporeans.

Support for upskilling and overseas exposure was also beefed up to prepare more Singaporeans to take on better jobs, including top leadership roles.

Chief among the slew of measures was the Complementarity Assessment Framework (Compass), which was introduced in Budget 2022 and gradually rolled out from September 2023.

Compass is a points-based framework that evaluates the attributes of an Employment Pass applicant and the prospective employer in deciding whether to issue the pass.