Singapore’s fintech goals bump up against immigration curbs

Bloomberg

Singapore’s goal of becoming a high-tech financial hub is running into real-world problems of labour supply and demand.
Technology startups in many countries are fighting to attract skilled workers like software engineers.
Yet in the tiny city-state of Singapore, with a population of 5.6 million, the dearth of talent is particularly acute. The nation’s universities and polytechnic schools churn out what the government estimates are 400 graduates a year with the right qualifications, well short of plans to add 1,000 financial tech jobs annually, according to the Singapore Fintech Association.
As a small, open economy Singapore relies on foreign talent to help meet its skills needs. Yet a gradual tightening of immigration rules in recent years is putting pressure on a labour market that’s already feeling the crunch. The number of employment passes — which are granted to foreign professionals in jobs that pay at least $2,679 a month — declined last year
for the first time in at least five years.
Official data puts demand for technology jobs in financial services at more than 26,200 in 2016, a record high. Surveys by the Singapore Fintech Association back up the view of a skills crunch, with 47 percent of members citing insufficient talent in the country.
Data scientists, blockchain developers and computer programmers are most in demand.
The government says it’s trying to strike a balance between an approach that protects local jobs and labour rules that give flexibility to employers in industries where skills shortages are most severe.
It has specific initiatives to ease the talent crunch in those sectors, such as the capability transfer program, where companies can seek funding of salaries for foreign specialists. Still, more could be done, said Chia Hock Lai, president of the Singapore Fintech Association.
“It would be great if the government can consider experimental schemes,” including a one-year employment pass for technology workers who are vetted by industry associations, “in order to address the immediate talent shortage gap,” he said.
“This would be a balanced approach to protect jobs for locals, which should always be a priority, while still allowing Singapore to capture emerging global opportunities in the area of fintech and blockchain,” he said.
Ravi Menon, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, who is spearheading the nation’s fintech efforts, said the talent crunch is a global problem and the biggest challenge for the city state’s burgeoning industry.
“We have to admit and acknowledge that there are some talents or skill sets we just don’t have and we have to remain open to foreign talent,” Menon said.