Survey shows business sentiment up, more expats moving to S'pore
SINGAPORE : A recent survey by the American Chamber of Commerce
shows over 40 per cent of companies polled are optimistic of an
economic turnaround by the end of the year. This is up from just a
third of respondents at the end of 2008.
Neither has the global downturn dampened expatriate numbers.
According to another survey, more expatriates moved to Singapore than
left between March and April.
It is a common perception that when the recession hits, the expatriate is usually the first to go.
This time, it is not quite true.
Instead, a recent survey by the American Chamber of Commerce showed
only a small increase in multinational corporations sending back
foreign staff, from 15 per cent to 21 per cent between December 2008
and May 2009. But significantly, eight in 10 chose not to.
Other industry observers have also noticed more Asian expatriates arriving.
Beverly Mayhew, founder, Orientations, said: "The fact that
organisations had to look to cut budgets, they were being creative in
'how can we do this without compromising the standards that we hold?'
"This is being driven by the fact that their employer is finding the talent in Asia now, and Asians cost less."
She said that this trend of bringing in more Asians is a particular
feature of this current recession. For the past 28 years, her company,
Orientations, has been helping expatriates settle in after their move
to Singapore.
Observers said that many multinational companies are also offering
reduced pay packages to their expatriate staff. And more foreigners are
taking them up, with some accepting even local terms, so long as key
items, like their children's education at international schools, remain
untouched.
And a check with these schools shows that demand remains high, with
no significant sign of parents pulling out their children from the
schools.
Some like Tanglin Trust School said that withdrawals have in fact gone down by about 20 per cent compared to previous years.
The Canadian International School said it has seen more North
American students leaving at the end of the school year, but their
places are being taken up by Asian students.
Over at the United World College of South East Asia, wait-list numbers are still strong.
Its main campus at Dover Road has seen only a slight increase in withdrawals this year - 130 compared to 118 a year ago.
Julian Whiteley, head of college, United World College of South
East Asia, said: "One of the fascinating things about education is that
it tends to be the one thing that parents will hang on to. And what I
suspect has happened is that some parents may have lost their jobs or
may be waiting to pick up another job in Singapore, and so they are
staying here in the hope that they can get another job, and they can
keep their children in the school.
"And looking around the world, historically, one finds that the
number of students, the enrolment in a school drops usually about a
year or two years after there has been an economic downturn."
It is a view shared by the Australian International School, which
said numbers may go up towards the end of its academic year in
December. The school said parents may prefer to let their child
complete the year so as not to disrupt their studies.
So far, the signs remain positive, and UWCSEA said it has already met its enrolment targets for the coming school year.
- CNA/ms