Eng Fong Pang

Competing for global talent

Recent literature on globalization and international academic mobility has noticed the ability of individuals – especially highly-skilled personnel with marketable expertise – to move freely in the international labour market (Saxenian, 2002), and therefore the intensified worldwide competition for “brain gain”, i.e., governments’ “attempts, efforts, programs, and projects aimed to draw scientific workers to a given country” (Jalowiecki & Gorzelak, 2004, p. 299).

Foreign labor and economic development in Singapore.

This article focuses on foreign labor and economic development in Singapore by reviewing the historical ebb and flow of foreign labor, presenting the prevailing government policy and philosophy on the importation of labor, contrasting the economic benefits and costs of foreign labor, describing common characteristics of foreign workers in Singapore, projecting the implications of such labor in Singapore and discussing policy alternatives.This article focuses on foreign labor and economic development in Singapore by reviewing the historical ebb and flow of foreign labor, presenting the prevailing government policy and philosophy on ...

LABOR, PRODUCTIVITY AND SINGAPORE'S DEVELOPMENT MODEL

This paper discusses how Singapores labor market policies since independence have been molded by the state-driven, foreign investment-led, export-oriented, manufacturing-focused development model the country has followed over the past fifty years. The literature we review shows that high GDP growth has been achieved through factor accumulation rather than productivity increase, a strategy of extensive growth that has now run into diminishing returns as well as political, social and resource constraints. Prolonged heavy dependence on imports of foreign labor and skills to attract foreign investment has contributed to low, declining and even negative productivity growth, with low real GDP growth in recent years. In response, the government is pursuing renewed economic restructuring, limiting foreign labor inflows, targeting investments more selectively, and promoting productivity and innovation, so far with uncertain results. This paper suggests that Singapore should let market forces propel the economy toward services, domestic consumption and regional trade, led by domestic private enterprise. But the retreat from established state industrial and social policies will be difficult.