Singapore to adjust foreign worker policies to address job concerns amid pandemic
- Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in a televised message ahead of National Day that Singapore must manage the quality and numbers of foreigners
- He said the Covid-19 pandemic has ‘strained fault lines’ in society, mentioning incidents of racial and religious intolerance
The government is aware such anxieties over the foreign worker population have worsened because of uncertainties caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, and authorities are addressing them, Lee said in a televised message on the eve of the country’s 56th National Day.
Other tough issues that have come to the fore during this period and which need to be dealt with are support for low-wage workers and the challenge of maintaining racial harmony, he said.
“We have to adjust our policies to manage the quality, numbers and concentrations of foreigners in Singapore,” Lee said. “If we do this well, we can continue to welcome foreign workers and new immigrants, as we must.”
Just under 30 per cent of Singapore’s 5.7 million population are non-residents, up from around 10 per cent in 1990, according to government statistics.
