Singapore is tightening up on rules that bring in foreign skilled workers, in efforts to offer local citizens first pick of the positions.
The Ministry of Manpower announced their intentions to lower dependency on foreign workers while bolstering the local economy last year, according to the International Business Times. On Monday, the Ministry said it will start implementing changes that will shift what it labeled discriminatory hiring practices by 2014. The nation has relied on overseas workers for decades, leading citizens to rally in massive demonstrations against rising immigration rates that, in turn, shoot the cost of living through the roof.
"Even as we remain open to foreign manpower to complement our local workforce, all firms must make an effort to consider Singaporeans fairly," Tan Chuan Jin, manpower minister, wrote in a statement. "'Hiring-own-kind and other discriminatory practices that unfairly exclude Singaporeans run against our fundamental values of fairness and meritocracy."
In an outline of the new rules drawn by the Ministry of Manpower, companies that employ more than 25 workers will have to post hiring ads for skilled jobs on an online national hiring bank for two weeks before they can submit applications allowing them to bring in foreign employees. The change is slated to begin in August of next year.
This is the fourth time that the Singaporean government has toughened up on foreign hiring rules since February. Singapore has begun issuing work visas more sparingly, in addition to narrowing the number of recruiters bringing foreign workers into the country. According to the Wall Street Journal, work permits for foreign executives and managers will rise from 3,000 Singapore dollars to S $3,300.
Some economists in the area said Monday that these changes will continue Singapore's efforts to remove itself from its heavy dependence on the expansion of the labor force.
"What it means for businesses is that costs will go up," economist at CIMB Research group Song Seng Wun told the WSJ. "Without pressures from higher operating costs, there would be very little incentive for businesses to improve their productivity," he said.
One third of Singapore's workforce is currently comprised of foreign workers and immigrants, International Business Times reported.
