Mon, Aug 18, 2003 page12

• Singapore's slump brings an end to the `job buffet'

  • AFP
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  Singapore's grand job buffet is over as the city-state goes through a long economic slump, with government leaders urging pampered citizens to learn to live with less appealing choices on the table.

  Singaporeans must shed the mindset acquired during the boom years before the 1997 to 1998 Asian financial crisis in which they shunned less glamorous jobs in hotel kitchens, dockyards and factories, the ministers said last week.

  Once one of Asia's most robust economic tigers, tiny Singapore was a magnet for workers from its poorer neighbors willing to work the night shift and longer hours for relatively lower pay.

  This afforded citizens to be picky about the jobs they took, with some citing such reasons as a long bus ride not to take up employment in an island where the longest travel to work will rarely take more than an hour.

  But the labor landscape has changed drastically, and as more Singaporeans are thrown out of work, there is rising sentiment from the grassroots to blame foreigners for taking away jobs which should be going to local workers.

  There are currently 85,000 people unemployed, or 4.9 percent of the workforce, and this could reach a record 8.5 percent if remedial measures to cut the cost of doing business here were not taken, Senior Minister Lee Kuan-yew said.

  The government, walking a political tightrope, has rejected calls to restrict the entry of foreign workers, saying this would only damage the economy in the long run.

  But officials have also called on Singaporeans to be less choosy about job prospects, lower their salary expectations and upgrade their skills to compete with foreign labour.

  From 1993 to 1997 when economic growth was near 10 percent, about 100,000 jobs were created annually, official figures show.

  "For these years, it was a grand `job buffet' as we created nearly three jobs for every Singaporean," Acting Manpower Minister Ng Eng-hen told parliament on Thursday.

  "Singaporeans could pick and choose. They declined jobs in the construction, marine, domestic, cleaning, hotels and even manufacturing sectors," Ng said.

  "Instead, they moved into the services industry where working conditions were more manag-eable," he said.

  During this period, foreign workers took 60 percent of the almost 475,000 new jobs created, but few locals were complaining as job supply was plenty.

  But from 1998 to last year, job conditions became more difficult as the economy reeled from the blows dealt by the financial crisis, the continuing terrorist threat, the Iraq war, the SARS outbreak and a downturn in global demand.

  Only about 20,000 jobs were created annually.

  "Instead of the luxurious spread, fewer and less appealing dishes were on the buffet table," Ng said.

  Government statistics show foreigners account for about a quarter of Singapore's labor force.

  About 200,000 jobs are held by work permit holders in the manufacturing and services sector, while there are 140,000 foreign maids and 150,000 construction workers.

  "I encourage Singaporeans to take these jobs," Ng said, adding the government had been working with industries "to redesign jobs to help make them more suitable for Singaporeans."

  Parliament on Friday passed legislation to establish a Workforce Development Agency aimed at promoting continuing education and training for local workers to keep pace with the rapid changes in the business environment.

  The government plans to set aside S$5 billion (US$2.8 billion) for the continuing skills upgrading scheme.

  MP Yeo Guat Kwang, in supporting the passage of the legislation, said the key word for local workers was mobility.

  "In a tight labor market, an employee is seen to have greater power because he can move to another job and get better pay. In a downturn, power of the employee lies in his skills, his ability to perform," he said.

  However locals fear the real message is simply lower wages.

  Trade Minister George Yeo also told parliament that Singaporeans must be prepared for "painful" wage adjustments despite prospects for an economic recovery from next year.

  Yeo said competition from low-wage nations in the region was increasing and Singaporeans could not afford the salary "premiums" they have long enjoyed.

  "This Singapore premium is finite. Beyond a point, we are not worth the premium, and if our wages are too high, the investments will flow elsewhere instead," he said.
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