Tighter foreign worker policies put pressure on companies
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Tighter foreign worker policies will put pressure on companies
By Wong Siew Ying | Posted: 01 March 2013 2208 hrsSINGAPORE : The government has recently tightened foreign worker policies further with more focus on the construction, marine and services sectors.
Economists warn that the foreign labour curbs could hurt the Singapore economy if these companies cannot raise productivity in the short-term.
With the manufacturing sector weighed down by weaker electronics demand， industries such as construction, marine and services have been and will continue to be important growth drivers of Singapore's economy.
The services sector， for instance, contributes 70 percent of Singapore's GDP.
Some economists are concerned that the tighter foreign labour policies in 2014 and 2015 could put a drag on these sectors even as regional growth momentum picks up.
Irvin Seah, Senior Economist, DBS Bank, says: "These sectors should perform better. But that said, growth performance would have been even better if there is no such tightening measures in place, unless of course those sectors are able to raise their productivity in the near-term to offset the drag from the tightening measures. For example, Singapore could easily have achieved GDP growth of at least 3 percent and above last year if not for those tightening measures."
Singapore's GDP grew by 1.3 percent in 2012.
This year, economists project growth to come in at the higher-end of the government's estimates of between 1 and 3 percent.
CIMB expects the construction, marine and services sectors to see at least a modest growth this year.
But as stricter foreign labour curbs kick in, companies will increasingly need to raise productivity to drive their bottomline.
Song Seng Wun, Regional Economist, CIMB, says: "Singapore is looking at restructuring not just domestically. We are also well aware that the push for productivity is strong because regionally wages are going up. If we don't force it upon local businesses first, we might find businesses may struggle as competition for labour intensify in the coming years."
Some economists say the risk of a global downturn this year is low and this is a good time for businesses to restructure their operations in an environment of growth.
However, should external demand softens due to any unforeseen event, then companies may face more pressure and business failures could increase.
Apart from raising productivity, economists say companies can also explore opportunities in regional markets with lower cost structure.
- CNA/ch -
prices go up and who suffer in the end?
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Originally posted by FireIce:
prices go up and who suffer in the end?
wont one lah. they up their prices they will only lose out to the competitor next door. -
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this type of news article is the repotor editor own self gie one gahmen never endorse.
businesses where the top bosses only listen to subordinate branch maners asay what lah not enuff workers lah must hire more cheap foreign ones lah will be affected monst. those bosses who alwasy stress on productivity and keep a neat tight prductive workforce will not see any issue with this levy increase.
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Perhaps it's time we look at devaluing our currency to keep up with global competition.
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the garbramen is not capable of doing anything right. seems they not able to do lesser evil of striking a balance between social cohesion n enconomic growth.
mess up the country n then they said they doing their job by correcting their mistakes
some immoral devils pretending to be god.
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just that day the minimart boss very fed up. Complained to customer about not having enough foreign workers to work . even if employ foreign workers the govt is strict to control.
Is this miw's plot to sabotage sinkingporeans ??????
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frankly, it's either the gabrament doing this on purpose or they're so goddamned dumb they don't know what they're doing..
either way there is nothing good about it...
the problem isn't with foreign workers.. they work, they finish their contract, they go home...
it's the PR and Citizenship they keep throwing at any tom dick and harry who has some money to show that is the problem.. they bullshit about "greying population" the take on PRs and new citizens who then import their whole greying clan over...
2 new PRs or citizens bring over 4 parents and maybe up to 8 grandparents.. and suddenly the situation becomes markedly worse...
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Tighter pussy put pleasure on companies
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Originally posted by the Bear:
frankly, it's either the gabrament doing this on purpose or they're so goddamned dumb they don't know what they're doing..
either way there is nothing good about it...
the problem isn't with foreign workers.. they work, they finish their contract, they go home...
it's the PR and Citizenship they keep throwing at any tom dick and harry who has some money to show that is the problem.. they bullshit about "greying population" the take on PRs and new citizens who then import their whole greying clan over...
2 new PRs or citizens bring over 4 parents and maybe up to 8 grandparents.. and suddenly the situation becomes markedly worse...
as long as aliens are here, they have to be socially responsible also. they work they cum here, unless tehy also sleep and live like robots without causing social issues here, alien workers are also a pain in the arse.