Essay draft 1

Brain drain is defined as the process of which highly trained or skilled people from a country through migration. In Singapore, brain drain has been on the rise as more Singaporean are living overseas in recent years. As Singapore is facing a low birth rate issue, the rising brain drain issue raises some concerns that must be solved through a more effective solution to reduce the problems caused by the aftermath of brain drain. This essay will discuss the reasons of why highly trained or skilled Singaporeans are migrating. How this process will impact the future of Singapore, solutions that are currently implemented by the Singapore government. Lastly, the improvement can be made to tackle the issue in a more effective and efficient way.

According to Todayonline (2015), in 2014 there were 212 000 Singaporean living overseas which was a 30% increase over the past ten years. There are a few reasons that contribute to the increase and one of the main reasons is Singaporeans feel that there are better career opportunities in other countries. As Singapore is a small country without any natural resources, job opportunities in industry such as Oil and Gas, Engineering and Aerospace are scarcely little. Hence, jobs are generally competitive and slow in career progression as compared to other high developed countries. Singaporeans, who have specialised in these fields in school, would prefer to work in overseas where higher salaries are offered and job securities are safer. Another reason of an increase in migration, is the high standard of living in Singapore. Being one of the most costly cities in the world, stress level is generally high in Singapore. This leads to some Singaporean eagerly seeking for a change in environment by migrating to a country with a slower pace of life.

So what impact does brain drain in Singapore has in a long run? As more high skilled citizens start living the country, Singapore will lack the talents that are needed in sustaining economic growth. As stagnation economic growth is resulted, foreign investors are discouraged from carrying out their business in Singapore. Lack of jobs are created, unemployment rate and social problems in Singapore will inevitably increase. Another problem Singapore might face is security. Singapore is currently facing a low birth rate issue. If more Singaporeans continue to migrate away from Singapore, the number of male Singaporean soldiers will significantly be reduced. This put Singapore in a dangerous spot as there will be lesser citizens to rely on to protect Singapore from external threats in future, thus causing a problem to the nation security.

The Singapore government has been working on the brain drain issue and came up with some solutions to tackle the problem. One of the main solutions that the Singapore government implements is bringing in immigrants into Singapore. According to the Wall Street Journal (2010), from 2005 to 2009, there has been an increase of population of 150 000 a year in Singapore. And out of the 150 000 people, 75% of them are immigrants. In order to replace the outgoing local citizens, the Singapore governments are attracting more foreigners into Singapore. These immigrants might be as highly skilled as the Singaporean’s migrants and are capable of sustaining Singapore high economic growth. Immigrants in Singapore also take up blue collar jobs that Singaporeans feel menial and have no interest in taking. These jobs for example are jobs in the construction, maintenance sector etc. contributes hugely to the economic growth too. However, the sudden high influx of immigrants also cause many displeasures to Singaporeans. Singaporeans feel that the increase in immigrants provides unwanted competition in jobs and educations. Also, these immigrants might only provide temporary solutions to the brain drain issue to Singapore government as after all Singapore is not the home country of the immigrants. Hence, they could return to their home country after their work visa has ended.  Even though attracting immigrants into Singapore is an effective strategy in sustaining economic growth, immigrants do not have as much national interest as the Singaporeans have.

Another strategy that the Singapore government come up with is offering attractive incentives to the local talents and aspiring entrepreneur Singaporean in a bid of retaining them instead of venturing overseas. The Singapore government gives out scholarships yearly to high performer that do exceptionally well in school or at work. These highly skilled citizens are more likely to migrate Singapore due to lack of progression or opportunities in school or jobs. Hence by offering scholarships to them, they feel more valued by the nation and are more willing to stay in Singapore.  The Singapore government also gives tax reliefs to start-up companies to dissuade aspiring entrepreneur from starting up their business in other countries. Offering incentives may sound like a good solution but Singaporeans are not as attracted to it as it seems. As there are limited scholarships the Singapore government can offer, competition for scholarships is high and this competition might leads to high amount of stress among citizens. As previously mentioned, high stress level leads to Singaporean migrating, awarding scholarships might not be as attractive as suggested. Next, Singapore entrepreneurs are also reluctant to start their business in Singapore despite the huge amount of tax reliefs Singapore government offer to start-up companies. This is because the Singapore market is small and entrepreneurs worry that business progression will be slower and less profitable in Singapore than in other countries.

Hence to reduce the brain drain issue in Singapore, the government should continue to focus on reducing the outflow of talent but come up with a more effective solution than offering just incentives. As we have previously mentioned, most common complaints made by the migrating Singaporean were about the lack of job opportunities or progression and high stress level as compared to other developed countries. Indeed, these reasons of brain drain in Singapore are unavoidable because Singapore is a small country without any natural resources and Singaporeans need to be driven at work or in studies to spur the economic growth. Therefore, stress level in Singapore is inevitably high. Nonetheless, Singapore is the home country of Singaporeans. The Singapore government can still instil strong sense of national identity among Singaporeans so that the citizens have a stronger sense of belonging towards the country. This effort might dissuade local talent from migrating. At the same time, Singaporean might be more agreeable to compete within the locals in school or at work. They are likely to be inculcated of the knowledge that all Singaporeans have a role to play in the country and all of us are important to Singapore’s economy growth.                                                   

Brain drain issue in Singapore cannot be taken lightly and the Singapore government are looking for every measures to reduce the problem. Most notably attracting more immigrants to compensate the outflow of local talents and attracting incentives to local talents in bid to retain them. However as discussed, these measures have its own cons and are not the most effective solutions to solve the brain drain issue. As the saying goes prevention is better than cure, instilling a strong sense of national identity among Singaporeans can encourage us to work hard for our country and perhaps is the most efficient solutions with the least cons.

References

http://www.todayonline.com/more-sporeans-overseas-brain-drain-concerns-dissipate

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703414504575001302415117966

Reader Response Essay

In the article, “Singapore’s Expat Surge Fuels Economic Fears”, Patrick Barta & Tom Wright (2010) explains the reasons why Singapore is attracting immigrants to the country, lists out the importance of their contribution to Singapore’s economy and also the complications the immigrants might create for Singaporeans. Barta and Wright reasons that Singapore government is attracting huge numbers of immigrants into Singapore to solve the low birth rate issue fast and at the same time increase the economic growth. But this high influx of immigrants also causes some displeasure among the Singapore citizens. Some of the Singaporeans are worried that the extra competition for jobs will result in a more competitive environment to earn a living. Barta and Wright goes on to conclude that immigrants are a double edge sword. They are important to the country’s economic growth but they have also caused inflation to the country.

This article is written in a neutral and unbiased argument of immigrants’ impact in Singapore. I agree that even though immigrants might create competition at work, studies etc. I do believe that they are a good alternative to offset Singapore’s low birth rate issue and to spur the country’s economic growth fast.

Barta and Wright has effectively pointed out that immigrants improve Singapore’s economy faster by supporting his idea with substantial evidence. They have shown a study that there is an average annual growth of 6.8% in Singapore that is due to the vast majority of foreign employers that encourage Singapore to have such a high growth that only less developed countries will have. Indeed, this is a remarkable feat because when high annual growth is gained, the economy will be an attractive factor for investors to invest in Singapore which can create more business and job opportunities. This can result in a high standard of living that can be sustained in a country even though there are no natural resources to support Singaporeans.

However, Barta and Wright correctly explains the cons of having high number of immigrants too. They argue that having cheaper labour from overseas increases productivity gains and not increasing business efficiency. They support their argument with a study that shows a 7.8% drop of labour productivity in 2008 which is resulted from immigrants. Barta and Wright also interviews a cleaner at a cafeteria, whom earns $850 a month. She says that the immigrants provide competitions for blue-collar jobs and causing job pays to drop in Singapore, making it extra competitive to make ends meet. Furthermore, high influx of immigrants makes Singapore one of the most densely populated countries in the world which results in congestions around the city and also increases real estate prices since more people are looking for houses or apartments to stay. Hence, for example the cleaner which Barta and Wright has mentioned previously, it will be harder for the lower income class to afford the rising cost and like what the article mentions “exacerbating Singapore’s gap between rich and poor”. Next I feel that to reduce the problems caused from immigrants, the Singapore government can go through a more stringent process to select the immigrants coming into Singapore. For example, the infamous Yang Yin case which he had conned millions of dollars over an old widow’s assets. According to Todayonline (2014), Yang Yin had been charged in court with three more criminal charges that he had made untrue statements when applying Singapore permanent residence for himself and a Long Term Visit Pass for his wife to the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA). Another example, of a lenient immigration selection was the Hong Tao case. According to Asiaone (2008), Hong Tao was granted permanent residence in 2006. However, he was arrested in 2008 after the ICA found out that his degree he had taken in China. He had worked in Singapore for eight years. Since the country needs higher calibre immigrants that can provide significantly to Singapore and not just quantity, I would like that the Singapore government can take a more stringent selection process in immigrant selections so that these cases of fraud and issues pose by immigrants can reduce drastically. At the same time, not hindering the Singapore’s economic growth with the selection of high calibre immigrants that are able to provide Singapore with qualities.

Overall this article has weighed the pros and cons of immigration issue in Singapore without any prejudice. Barta and Wright also uses substantial evidence and interviews individuals to support their arguments that they want to relay in the article, which I totally agree with. Without a doubt immigrant issue in Singapore is a double edge sword, they might improve economic growth fast but it might also come with a cause. To reduce the problems caused by high influx of immigrants, I feel that the Singapore government can go through a more stringent selection and reduce the number of immigrant intake. Thus, we can reduce the problems pose by immigrants and at the same time there is no need to compensate the low birth rate issue that will affect our economic growth.

References

http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/three-more-criminal-charges-brought-against-yang-yin

http://news.asiaone.com/News/Education/Story/A1Story20080229-52015.html

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703414504575001302415117966

Are Immigrants Essential To The Future Economical Growth of Singapore

Jim Rogers, whom is a legendary American investor, uses his vast experience in economics in giving arguments on his stand on the importance of immigrants in Singapore and the impact they can provide to Singapore. However his arguments lack substantial evidences to support his points. He explains that Singapore will not be a lucrative place for investment if “Singapore cannot get enough labour” which leads to higher wages and inflation rate. In truth, they are other factors not only the lack of labour, that might result in increasing inflation rate. Claiming that immigrants can solve the issue of the rising demand of labours that ensure Singapore to be a lucrative country for investment is bias, when they are also other factors that encourage investors are to invest in Singapore because of the country low crime rate and free trade agreements.

Jim Rogers has effectively pointed out that Singapore is facing an ageing population and more help is needed to support the elderly. They are less effective and efficient compared to the younger generation. However, the older generation has wealth of experience and they are not be the primary cause of slower development of the country that leads to losing out to our neighbouring countries. There can be also other alternatives in balancing an ageing population whereby the government can carry out Baby Bonus plans to encourage higher birth rate in Singapore.

Therefore, I would only agree with Jim Rogers if he can provide substantial evidences or sources with real data to support his arguments on immigrants’ ability to drastically improve the future of Singapore’s economy growth, as I believe his point of view is biased because he is an immigrant of Singapore as well.