Singapore: Hungry for Foreign Workers at All Skill Levels

• HyperFocal

  4 Dec 07, 09:21

  Singapore: Hungry for Foreign Workers at All Skill Levels
  
  By Brenda S.A. Yeoh
  National University of Singapore
  
  January 2007
  
  Established as a British trading colony in 1819, the history and fortunes of Singapore, an island-state located between Malaysia and Indonesia, have been closely intertwined with migrants and migration.
  
  Today, Singapore's population of almost 4.5 million includes citizens of Malaysian, Chinese, and Indian descent as well as thousands of foreign workers from across Southeast and South Asia. Not surprisingly, the country has four official languages: English, Mandarin, Malay, and Tamil.
  
  Singapore, which became an independent nation in 1965, has few natural resources and limited space. Yet it has become a first-world country since the 1980s, due in large part to its transformation from a manufacturing to a service-driven economy. As a result, it has become even hungrier for foreign workers at all levels of the labor market.
  
  Read more here: http://www.migrationinformation.org/Profiles/display.cfm?id=570
• reddressman

  4 Dec 07, 23:00

  If this tide of influx continues, current at least 100,000 in numbers I suspect,
  
  the young sg that we know,
  
  will become even younger as its composition and culture evolves.
  
  The sg identity is starting again as a newborn.
  
  How united will this bunch be?
  
  maybe more army will help in this aspect?
  
  how about 3 years ?
  fast way to bond ?
  
  Anyways,
  judging by the last election,
  the PEOPLE have again spoken.
  
  This is what they want or don't mind.
  
  Cheers.
  Enjoy your future to come in your face.