Data from Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower shows that the variety of expat, white-collar staff, within the metropolis state is the lowest it’s been in a decade. The number of Employment Pass holders, a piece allow issued to overseas professionals incomes a minimal of S$4,500 (over a hundred and ten,000 Thai baht) a month, fell 9% to 161,seven hundred within the yr ended December 2021. This is the lowest since 2010, when the quantity was 143,300.
The information suggests that Singapore isn’t but reaping the advantages of the exodus of expats from Hong Kong, although this might change when the city-state fully re-opens its borders whereas Hong Kong continues to enforce harsh restrictions.
According to a Bloomberg report, Singapore has all the time been a well-liked destination for expats, because of low taxes and its function as a regional hub for lots of industries. However, the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic sparked concern among struggling locals that foreigners had been taking one of the best jobs. The Singaporean authorities responded by making it more difficult for businesses to rent overseas staff. Such measures, coupled with Covid journey restrictions, led to a gentle drop in expat numbers over the past 2 years.
According to Replicate , the exodus is not only among white-collar workers, with the number of foreign labourers and technicians also dropping. This has had a knock-on effect, corresponding to long delays to housing projects and other building work. In 2019, Singapore had 1.forty three million international staff, but by the top of 2021, that quantity had dropped to 1.2 million.
The government has pledged to address the scarcity of foreign workers in the coming months, with the number of blue-collar work permit holders increasing by over 15,000 in the final 6 months of 2021.
SOURCE: Bloombergg