‘Foreign labour in Singapore is more than just numbers’

Bloomberg

Singapore should remain open to adjusting levels of foreign workers while not threatening job and wage opportunities for native residents, Monetary Authority of Singapore Managing Director Ravi Menon said.
“It is not about how many foreign workers industry wants or society can afford to have, but what number and kind of foreign workers we need to maximise the job and wage opportunities for Singaporeans,” Menon said in a speech at the Institute of
Policy Studies’ annual Singapore Perspectives conference on Monday, according to a government transcript.
“We should increasingly be concerned about the skills of the foreign workers that we take in, rather than just the numbers,” he said.
Menon’s remarks focussed on how looming demographic changes, including population aging and a decades-long decline in the fertility rate, will continue to tug on the economy. Singapore’s growth, which was reinvigorated in 2017 by an unexpected pickup in global trade, could see longer-term struggles from the shrinking labour force and languishing productivity.
“We may be able to soften these constraints and reach more balanced outcomes,” said Menon. “But the fundamental constraints and choices implied by the trilemma are real.”