Build High, Live Low: Singapore's Male Migrant Workers and Tech Impact

This research report delves into the lives of male migrant workers in Singapore, particularly those in low-wage sectors like construction. It examines the significant rise in migrant labor post-independence, driven by Singapore's economic boom and the demand for a strong workforce, with a focus on the construction industry. The report highlights the challenges faced by these workers, including debt entrapment facilitated by agents, wage disparities, job insecurity, and limited bargaining power. It analyzes Singapore's migration management strategies, such as the tiered system and work permit regulations, and their impact on migrant workers. Furthermore, the report explores how technology is impacting their lives, although it is not explicitly mentioned in the provided text. The analysis considers the role of remittances, the impact of foreign employee levies, and the vulnerability of migrant workers to exploitation, providing a comprehensive overview of the issues faced by this demographic in Singapore.

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THE BUILD HIGH AND LIVE LOW LIFE OF SINGAPORE’S MALE MIGRANT
WORKERS AND HOW TECHNOLOGY IS IMPACTING ON THEIR LIVES
Student’s Name
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Introduction
Labour migration in Singapore is constantly on the rise, and for that matter, occupational sectors
that require low-level-skills and consequently offer low wages are unsurprisingly found to have a
concentrated number of immigrants being employed. Research by different scholars has found
that precarious work and migration tend to be mutually constitutive in various ways. As much as
migration is considered as a way of sustaining developmental strategies and creating enabling
pathways for socioeconomic mobility, the public tends to be largely unaware of the conditions
that surround expatriate work (Ye, 2014). More importantly, migrants are normally forced to
uptake huge loans or borrow from friends with the promise that they will payback in order to
make their journey to the “promised land’s” a success. Being riddled with huge uncertainties and
challenges, the process of migrating and /or failing to migrate possess huge risks to the supposed
migrants as they try and attain that proverbial “greener pasture” in life.
The Rise of Migrant Workers in Singapore
Post-independence Singapore has experienced a spike in the number of migrants
precisely due to the economic boom that has occurred in the South East Asian nation over the
recent years. Growth and development of a country definitely needs a strong workforce that can
help to bring the resources together. The construction industry for instance, holds the highest
number of migrant workers in Singapore. The work force in this case, does not possess the
appropriate academic qualifications needed in the Singapore’s workforce market. The migrants
end up resorting to jobs that can easily be undertaken without the need of much education
qualification (Anderson, 2010). Other industries also have migrants who have been employed,
however, the construction industry handles 70% of the total migrant workforce. The Ministry of
Manpower doesn’t have an exact figure of the number of migrant workers in the nation.
However, The High Commission of Bangladesh approximates that about 150000 persons have
moved to the former, and 90% of the workforce can be found in shipyard and constructions
industries (Lindquist, Xiang & Yeoh, 2012).
The rise of migrant workers in Singapore equally led to a double digit rise in remittances
that were sent to Bangladesh by the persons who had migrated. The value rose to $200 million
up from $80 million between 2007-2011. This simple fact has been the greatest fallacy that has

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been sold to low and middle class individuals within non-performing economies, thereby,
motivating them to desire to migrate in search of better jobs, unawares of the inequalities that
exist in foreign Labour markets and marginalization that migrants face while in foreign nations
as noted by the Bangladeshi’s High Commission (Hamel, 2009). For instance, the construction
sector in Singapore has the highest population of Bangladeshi’s, but these workers are
categorized among the low-wage Labour group. On the other hand, Chinese, Thai, and
Malaysian workers are categorized as skilled and end up receiving higher wages. The low wage
group earns between $350- $630 whilst the higher paid group ends up earning not less than $800
(Parreñas, 2012). This approach to wage offering creates a hierarchical difference and
consequently create the aspect of capitalist racist strategies that are aimed at exploiting the
disparities that exist in economies through the establishment of classes that intersect largely with
aspects of national stereotypes.
Singapore, A regime Managing the Migration
Singapore is on and has been on a path to establish as a regional and global “Talent City.
” With regards to this objective, Singapore has undertaken to institute a stratified and highly
advanced migrations regime that is categorized into unskilled, highly skilled, and mid-skilled
workers. The elite professionals and mid skilled workers can come with their families to
Singapore, but low-level employees are prohibited from bringing over their families. The
unskilled employees are normally associated with a strict policy that is merely meant to ensure
that this workforce can continuously provide cheap labor, and at the same time ensure that they
stay easily disposable such that when the economy is not performing optimally, they can be
expatriated back to their home nations (O’Connell Davidson, 2013). Singapore’s government has
also instituted measures that limit the job mobility of this group such that it is impossible for
them to change employers without consent. Also, they cannot marry Singaporeans in absence of
consent from the state as doing so would entitle them to citizenship statues and they would be
liable to protection from being overworked. Finally, they are also restricted from engaging in any
forms of activities that may mark them as being aggressors of the general society (Ministry of
Manpower 2012).

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Singapore manages the influx of low-level migrant employees in three major ways.
Firstly, is the tiered level approach, secondly there is the work permit system, and finally, there is
the vacillating dependency ceiling. This last approach defines the number of migrant workers
that can be taken up by the state to work in a particular sector within a given year (Loh, 2013).
The work permit offers a migrant a one or at most three-year contract that gives them an
opportunity to work in Singapore. During the contract viability period, the migrant is only
allowed to work under a single employer, and once the contract period lapses, the migrant is
expected to renew it or face the risk of deportation (Ueno, 2009).
On the other hand, the high and mid-level skilled and allowed a contractual stay of
between 10 and 22 years. This is only meant to act as deterrent so that they don’t end up sinking
their roots in Singapore. However, the lengthy contract period is meant to ensure that their skills
are well utilized during the period of their stay. To be listed as a skilled employee in the
construction industry, unskilled employees must first of all have a four-year experience of
engaging in this industry, and then they should seek certification from the Building and
Construction Industry of Singapore (BCA), and also seek registration from the Construction
Registration of Tradesmen (Core Trade).
Using debt to entrap immigrants
The objective of Singapore’s migrant management scheme is to use the skills of the
migrants as much as possible and in the process, benefit the country’s growth process to the
fullest. For countries that offer the highest number of migrants to Singapore’s economic growth,
the foreign revenue that is remitted back to the countries of origin is relished, and efforts are
undertaken to ensure that migrants can get to Singapore and work there for the longest periods.
However, on the part of the migrants, this comes at a huge cost of discipline, finance, and time.
90% of the persons who get to migrate to Singapore have cited that the agents in the countries of
origin who facilitate the transfers normally demand huge sums of money before one is allowed to
travel. Averagely, the migrants had to part with approximately $ 4,987, and 85% of these the
migrants have cited the need to borrow from different sources such as relatives, bank loans, and
friends in order to facilitate the travel with a promise that they will repay it back once they settle

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in Singapore (Madianou & Miller 2011). Even immigrants who did not necessarily have to
borrow money, they ended up selling valuable items or land in order to facilitate the travel. As
much as these fees are standard for anyone who wants to migrate to a foreign country so as to
seek work, in various instances, the fees tend to be raised by the agents arbitrarily at various
instances simply due to the demand from desperate migrant wannabes. While finance is a critical
factor in enabling the transition of a migrant to a foreign nation so that they are able to access a
better job, agents use debt as a way of ensuring that migrants are forced to work for a longer time
in the host nations. Migrant men, analyze the risks associated with the initial costs against the
possibility of gaining a higher wage, or securing a better job in Singapore. Ironically, most of
these men choose to go for the latter despite the challenges that they may have to face in the
process (Rahman, 2013).
As much as creating debt ensured that the migrant workers are able to successfully
facilitate their journey to Singapore, the huge amounts of money required led the migrant men to
be caught up in an almost never ending cycle where a person has to use all the earnings earned in
the first year of work to recover the debts. Therefore, for the migrants, they are forced to do
anything over the course of the first year so as to ensure that they constantly access income that
will facilitate debt repayment especially where huge interest rates are involved from the banks.
Where the debt created doesn’t incur any interest, the migrants are forced to keep sending gifts to
the friends and family back home as a way of keeping up with their social obligations
(Attanapola, 2013). While most immigrants go to Singapore thinking that they will be able to
repay their debts sufficiently within less than one year, they are usually surprised to find that the
period for repayment is much longer, even lasting up to more than one year. Considering that a
migrant may simply be issued with a one-year permit, they end up being forced to travel more
frequently, and this puts them in a position where they have to create more debt while trying to
recover the money that has been offered. This ends up creating a never-ending cycle of debt for
migrant men (Fresnoza-Flot, 2009).
Job insecurity, Wage issue and the absence of a bargaining power
It is without a doubt that the costs involved in getting a migrant to Singapore has
increased over the years, and this is due to the desire by agents to take advantage of the demand

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by Bangladeshi men who want to get into Singapore and secure employment in the construction
sector. Despite this factor being in existence, and the fact that the migrant construction workers
continue to be ranked among the lower ranks in the wage ladder, the wage levels continue to
stagnate and future immigrants into Singapore are set to experience bigger challenges (High
Commission of Bangladesh, Singapore 2014). Secondly the government has been undertaking
efforts to ensure that employers can cut down on the number of unskilled workers who are taken
up in every sector of Singapore’s economy by instituting a foreign employee levy, which led to
reduction in the average amount of money that a migrant worker can earn in a single day. This
factor made the migrant workers to stay much longer when trying to repay the loans that they
had taken in order to facilitate their travel (Abdullah, 2005).
The huge percentage of migrant workers are literally unable to circumvent the challenges
that they tend to face in Singapore, and this created by the fact that migrants are fearful of facing
deportation since they are faced with debts back home. They choose to tolerate the challenging
conditions rather than try to raise issues that are affecting them to their employers. Secondly,
most employers are equally aware of the fact the migrants travel to Singapore is largely
facilitated by debt, and they are willing to take advantage of this situation to the maximum.
While the governments move to increase the tax levy for migrant workers was motivated by the
need to deter employers from exploiting migrant workers, through discouraging unskilled
workers from coming into Singapore, it ended up curtailing the efforts of migrant workers to
make a decent living (Kalleberg & Hewison, 2012).
The condition is worsened by the fact that once a migrant worker receives a visa, it
becomes tied to a specific industry for the rest of the migrant worker’s life in Singapore. Trying
to change the visa status ends up requiring more money, and verification from employers who
are less than willing to do so since they understand that letting go off the cheap Labour will force
them to uptake the skilled employees who are not easy to come by (Nedelcu, 2012). Migrant
workers understand all too well the fact that Singaporean Employers are supposed to pay 1.5
times the average pay that is currently being offered, however, the fact that the employers tend to
be very threatening, and since there isn’t even adequate documentation such as itemized pay
slips lips that can helps to ensure that claims can successfully be challenged in a court, the
migrants simply choose to remain silent irrespective of the exploitation(Tai, 2013).

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The construction industry in Singapore contributes to the largest percentage of workplace
fatalities where 57% of injured workers were those who were related to offering services in this
industry. Since this industry also contributes to the highest percentage of migrant workers, it is
quite unsurprising that the number is largely related to the migrant workers. These fatalities are
particularly blamed on the fact that employers are contractors who are given tight deadlines to
deliver, and instead of taking up many employees, they only employ few persons who are forced
to work overtime shifts that at times extend up to 24hours. In such a condition, a worker is
definitely bound to slip or trip especially where they are working at a height (Greiner &
Sakdapolrak 2013).
While migrant workers have massively contributed towards the development of HDB’s
flats in Singapore, one might think that they are offered suitable fitting accommodation
considering the efforts that they are putting in the development of the coutry. However, it is quite
the opposite since in certain instances, the workers are forced to live in the very apartments that
they are building. The government seems to agree with such an arrangement since it only
requires that the sleeping areas be safe for workers and no strict measures are instituted such as
checks by government personnel. This is normally an effort by the employers to cut down on
accommodation costs since housing a migrant worker in a registered HDB apartment will cost up
to $500 each month. However, housing the workers in the apartments being built will only cost
about $200, and if it is possible to get unregistered units, it will only cost about $70 for the entire
month. Employers will definitely go for the lowest cost to make the largest profit (Lin & Sun
2010).
Changing the tide using technology
The rise of migrant jobs in expatriate countries has stirred the world over with regards to
the massive opportunities that this offers for people hailing from economies that perform poorly.
Unsurprisingly, Singapore has been listed as one of the best expatriate nations to seek
employment due to the possible good returns that are offered to the employees. Additionally,
governments promote the remittance ideology where figures from the money gained from abroad
tends to be hyped and people end up thinking that working in overseas nations is such a good
idea. More importantly, the process of getting to expatriate nations is one that has been shrouded
by secrecy, and agents take advantage of migrants who want to go and work abroad. Many

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people have been conned when trying to get proper documentation so that they can work in the
foreign nations (McDowell, Batnitzky, & Dyer, 2009).
In the midst of all these challenges, employees end up being exposed to harsh working
conditions while others loose loaned money even before they are able to secure a job so that they
can pay back what is owed. This has created a social evil that has primarily been enabled by the
lack of information on the part of those desire to clinch an expatriate job overseas. Upon getting
to Singapore, another challenge arises where employers are given full control over their
employees, and they end up controlling every single aspect of the latter’s lives including the use
of information technology tools. Despite having to work in a technologically advanced nation,
the restrictions on use of communication devices tend to be absurd. It is quite ironical to think
that ICT brings unprecedent freedom through making the world a smaller place (Thompson,
2009).
Singaporean employers understand quite well that if the unskilled labor workers are
allowed full access to the ICT devices, they might be able to communicate with the outside and
information might spread about the underhand approaches that are taken to suppress the freedom
of workers in Singapore. ICT technology in Singapore is used to surveil every engagement being
undertaken by the workers (Kaur, 2010). Some of the migrant workers are able to hide the
communication gadgets and use them when they cannot be seen. This boosts the relationship that
the migrants get to share with their family members back home due to the unbearable conditions
that they are facing in the host nation. Most migrants face the insurmountable challenge that
technology has caused, where it has caused increased surveillance, thereby, making their lives
unbearable.
Conclusion
Instituting minimum wage by the government

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The issue of expatriates moving to Singapore to seek better working conditions that do
not exist in their home countries is not something that will end any time soon. The expatriates
would prefer to work in unbearable conditions only so that they can survive not being deported
back to their countries of origin where the situations are far much worse. Secondly, the most of
the migrants have been financed purely using debts. Therefore, going back home for them is not
an option (Yeoh & Lam, 2016). Amidst all these factors facing migrant workers, the government
of Singapore can undertake to institute a minimum wage expectation from Singapore’s
employers so as to enable migrants to get full value for the services that the offer in Singapore.
The primary argument is that having a minimum wage cuts down on the percentage of
low-paying jobs while at the same time increasing the number of workers that can be hired in a
particular industry. As much as there lacks a consensus on the issue of minimum wage since it is
unclear who will benefit from the move between the employers and the migrants, instituting this
measure will definitely ensure that exploitation that is extended on migrant workers is
eliminated. This provides better opportunities for legitimate immigrants who reside in Singapore,
and also those who have been born in the nation (Pasadilla, 2011). The only downside to this
approach is that it will create much worse conditions for the immigrants who illegally reside in
Singapore. These group of persons will be almost willing to work for much less than is currently
offered since employers will not be willing to work with undocumented persons. Taking up the
minimum wage would be sufficient since the larger group constituted those who have the right
papers allowing them to stay in Singapore. This will also help to change the intentions of those
who intend into get into Singapore illegally.

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