UNDERSTANDING SOUTHEAST ASIA.

Running head: UNDERSTANDING SOUTHEAST ASIA
UNDERSTAND SOUTHEAST ASIA: AN ANALYSIS OF THE BENEFITS AND
RISKS OF FOREIGN LABOURERS IN SINGAPORE
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Author’s Note:

UNDERSTANDING SOUTHEAST ASIA1
As opined by Ramstetter1, labour crisis is one of the most important wicked problems
that the different nations of the world are facing presently and which in turn is slowing down
their growth or development. Suzuki and Pheng2 are of the viewpoint that the problem of
labour crisis arises when there is an insufficiency or shortage of professionally qualified as
well as skilled labourers within a particular nation which in turn hinders the effective
completion of the work of the business enterprises and other bodies of the national
government. In this regard, it can be said that there are several probable causes for the labour
crisis which the different nations of the world are presently facing. Some of the most
important ones in this context are wage issues, deficiency in the skill sets or the qualifications
of the workers, inadequate education or training offered to the workers, rapid growth of the
industries or the business enterprises and others3. In this context, the nation of Singapore is an
important wherein it is seen that because of the rapid growth of the different industries and
also the higher wages that these industries need to the pay to the workers, the majority of the
industries of the concerned nation like construction and others are facing the problem of
labour crisis. More importantly, it had been seen that the nations like Singapore for the
resolution of the labour crisis that they are facing are resorting to the method of procuring
cheap labour from their surrounding nations4. It is true that there are various social and
economic benefits associated with the procurement of labour from other nations far outweigh
the social and economic risks associated with the same. This essay will analyse the benefits
1 Ramstetter, Eric. "Experiences with Foreign Workers in Singapore and Malaysia: What are the Lessons for
Japan’s Labor Markets?." AGI Working Paper Series= AGI Working Paper Series 2016 (2016): 1-60.
2 Suzuki, Kazuhito, and Low Sui Pheng. "The Construction Industry and International Firms in Singapore."
In Japanese Contractors in Overseas Markets, pp. 37-60. Springer, Singapore, 2019.
3 Yea, Sallie, and Stephanie Chok. "Unfreedom unbound: Developing a cumulative approach to understanding
unfree labour in Singapore." Work, Employment and Society 32, no. 5 (2018): 925-941.
4 Baas, Michiel. "The mobile middle: Indian skilled migrants in Singapore and the ‘middling’space between
migration categories." Transitions: Journal of Transient Migration 1, no. 1 (2017): 47-63.

UNDERSTANDING SOUTHEAST ASIA2
and risks associated with the process of foreign labourers in the construction industry of
Singapore.
Chan et al.5 have articulated the viewpoint that within the framework of the
developing nations like Singapore and others, the construction industry becomes a pivotal
one on the score of the fact that infrastructure is an integral requirement of the different
industries for their growth. As per Ibisworld.com6, the annual profitability of the construction
industry of Singapore for the year 2018 was £39.1 billion however a major concern for the
industry was the fact that it registered a growth rate of only 0.4% which is way lower than the
growth rate registered by it in the earlier years. This in turn can be attributed to the fact that
the majority of the enterprises related to the construction industry of Singapore are finding it
very hard to get adequate number of skilled labourers which in turn had substantially reduced
the growth rate of the concerned industry7. As a matter of fact, a report of the Sbr.com.sg8
reveals the fact that although the construction industry of Singapore had registered a growth
of more than 70% in the last decade yet at the same time it is seen that more than 95% of the
enterprises related to the concerned industry are suffering from the problem of labour crisis.
The official reports of Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2), a migrant labour rights
organisation in Singapore, reveals the fact that more than 500 foreign labourers related to
construction work are being imported to the concerned nation every single night9. More
5 Chan, Albert PC, Francis KW Wong, Carol KH Hon, Sainan Lyu, and Arshad Ali Javed. "Investigating ethnic
minorities' perceptions of safety climate in the construction industry." Journal of safety research 63 (2017): 9-
19.
6 Ibisworld.com. "Quarterly Snapshot: The Construction Sector | Ibisworld Industry Insider". 2019.
https://www.ibisworld.com/industry-insider/analyst-insights/quarterly-snapshot-the-construction-sector/.
7 Ying, Wong. "Construction Industry Faces Tough Times". 2019.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/construction-industry-faces-tough-times.
8 Sbr.com.sg. "The Future Of Singapore’S Construction Industry". 2019. https://sbr.com.sg/building-
engineering/commentary/future-singapore%E2%80%99s-construction-industry.
9 Ying, Wong. "Construction Industry Faces Tough Times". 2019.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/construction-industry-faces-tough-times.

UNDERSTANDING SOUTHEAST ASIA3
important, another report by Edition.cnn.com10 reveals the fact that in the year 2017 itself, the
construction industry of Singapore brought in more than 296,700 migrant workers from
different nations like India, Bangladesh, China and others. In this context, it needs to be said
that out of the total 5,600,000 population of Singapore, more than 1,374,900 are foreign
labourers who have been brought in from other nations11. Thus, on the score of these facts it
can be said that the different construction enterprises of Singapore are resorting to the method
of the procurement of cheap labourers from the other nations as a way to overcome the
problem of labour crisis that they are presently facing.
Platt et al.12 are of the viewpoint that one of the major factors which propels or
motivates the enterprises related to the construction industry of Singapore to take the help of
the different migrant labourers from the foreign nations is the economic benefits offered by
the usage of them. As a matter of fact, a study conducted by Edition.cnn.com13 reveals the
fact that the average pay that the enterprises related to the construction industry pay to the
Singaporean construction workers is $3,077 per monthly in comparison to the $400-$465 per
month which is being paid to the construction workers who are being imported from the other
nations like Bangladesh, India, China and others. This in turn had enabled the enterprises
related to the construction industry to substantially reduce their operations cost which in turn
had helped it to significantly enhance its profitability and thereby contribute in an effective
10 Edition.cnn.com. "Singapore's Migrant Workers Struggle To Get Paid". 2019
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/02/24/asia/singapore-migrant-workers-intl/index.html.
11 Edition.cnn.com. "Singapore's Migrant Workers Struggle To Get Paid". 2019
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/02/24/asia/singapore-migrant-workers-intl/index.html.
12 Platt, Maria, Grace Baey, Brenda SA Yeoh, Choon Yen Khoo, and Theodora Lam. "Debt, precarity and
gender: male and female temporary labour migrants in Singapore." Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 43,
no. 1 (2017): 119-136.
13 Edition.cnn.com. "Singapore's Migrant Workers Struggle To Get Paid". 2019
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/02/24/asia/singapore-migrant-workers-intl/index.html.