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
No comments:
Post a Comment