FTs are better than LTs

Regardless whether you are 20 or 50, you have to read this article in the ST today:

S'pore tops expat income

It says roughly

1 in 2 EXPATS in Singapore makes 

more than US$200,000 (S$265,000) annually. 

This is the highest ratio for expats in the world. 

On top of providing them with a clean, green, safe, world class environment, expats, in general, make more in Singapore than anywhere else in the world.

But that's not the point of the article. Look again.

The article then goes on to cite a recently (last month) released report by Singapore Department of Statistics last month.

Check this out... Out of all (working) households in Singapore, less than 10% of employed Singapore households makes the same as those lucky expats as described above. Notwithstanding that these SG households are more likely to be dual-income entities, relative to Expat households.

Let's assume that:

No. of Singapore households (including PRs)

= 4 million / 4 per household = 1M

No. of Singaporean households making more than SGD265k pa 

≈ 10% x 1M ≈ 100k

No. of Expat (households) making more than SGD265k pa 

≈ 45% x 300k ≈ 135k

Do you see what's happening?

If some of these SGD265k jobs which expats now hold were not filled by expats, MORE Singaporean households would be able to enjoy annual household incomes of more than SGD265k.

Of course, the perennial argument is that if not filled by Foreign Talents (FTs), those jobs would not exist in the first place, because Local Talents (LTs) simply do not have the right qualifications, nor exposure, i.e. the all-important 'international experience'. 

Well, I say, this is all too euphemistic. 

• Firstly, the argument is based on an unproven hypothesis, i.e. I have not seen any studies proving that those SGD265k jobs would cease to exist if FTs were denied entry.
• Secondly, it is no secret that when making hiring decisions, managers tend to hire people like themselves. Hence, if FTs are placed in positions to make hiring decisions, they would hire people like themselves in terms of qualifications, background, nationality etc. As a fellow Singaporean puts it,"They (FT managers) will hire people whom they can communicate with. It's only natural."
• Lastly, 'international experience' is yet another euphemistic hoop to keep out LTs. My MBA classmates, with 'international experience' no further than that of their country of origin, were hired by MNCs in Singapore and are now expats in Singapore. One of them even managed to change industry totally, i.e. she had no prior experience for her new job. If that is 'international experience', then this is a really shitty time to be a Singaporean white collar, coz your work experience in Singapore, even in the relevant industry, ain't considered 'international'.

If citizens really come first, then it's high time for SINGOV to re-look at its free-for-all employment policies. Because even if SINGOV truly believes that its policies today encourage meritocracy, this is NOT practised on ground at the everyday level.

If left untreated, Singapore is going to suffer an extreme lack of local leadership /management talents 5 to 20 years from now, when the rest of world's economies rebound significantly. By then, the so-called FTs would have been setting their gaze elsewhere, leaving those positions in Singapore unfilled. 

Meanwhile, because many Singaporean white collars have been precluded from such career developmental opportunities now, they can't filled these positions effectively after the FTs have left. And so, either lesser-grade FTs will then flood the market, or those MNCs would really truly move out of Singapore altogether.

Hence, the costs of the current so-called miracle growth show would still be borne by Singaporeans... at least those who have nowhere to go to and are left hanging around.
....................................................

Separate Question: Why are we letting in the other 55% of FTs who make LESS than SGD265k?

Someone's Answer: So that those FTs who make more than SGD265k would have kahkias (subordinates).