Foreign Talent Lim Jing 3S307 Lim Yuan Wei 3S308 Maung Thet 3S311.

Foreign Talent

Lim Jing 3S307Lim Yuan Wei 3S308Maung Thet 3S311

Contents

• Introduction• Reasons• Policy• Effects• Attitudes• Reflection on Singapore’s

Government• References

Introduction

• Foreign talent policy – attraction of foreigners, usually people who are extremely skilled and knowledgable from overseas– Via policies which loosen

immigration policies, and tax reduction policies

– Via encouraging locals to accept and welcome them

Reasons

• Needs to remain competitive by going into high technology sectors– Biomedical research– Requires highly skilled labour– Foreign talent helps in filling up gaps

between demand and local availability of such labour

Reasons

• Has a small population size, and a quickly-growing economy– Does not have enough local

manpower to fully fill up such jobs– Hence needs to rely on foreign talent

Reasons

• High technology sectors usually require workers to have lots of training– Many locals are not trained in new

sectors– Such training might require up to a

few years– Hence, foreign talent is again needed

to fill up such jobs

Reasons

• Singapore is relatively new in high technological sectors– Local workers might not have the

experience and knowledge of foreign talent

– For greater productivity, such talents are needed

Reasons

• Singapore has a brain drain problem– Local talent are migrating overseas

for better careers– Hence needs foreign talent to

replace these people

Policy

• Tax Policies• Manpower Policies• Other Policies

Tax Policies

• The Further Tax Deduction for Overseas Talent Recruitment Scheme (FTD Scheme) – To allows employers to claim a

further tax deduction for the relocation and recruitment expenses incurred in the hiring of top global talent.

Tax Policies

• FTD– Encourages more employers to hire

foreign talent– Hence attracting more foreign talent

Tax Policies

• Not-So-Ordinary-Resident (NOR) Scheme – Whereby individuals accorded the

NOR status can enjoy tax concessions

– To attract talents to relocate to Singapore

Manpower Policies

• Raising of SP – pass quota for mid skilled manpower from 10 – 15%– To allow more foreign talents to

work in Singapore– So as to increase no. of foreign

talents in Singapore

Manpower Policies

• The foreign dependency ceiling in the services sector has been raised from 25 percent to 30 percent as from October 1, 1997.

• For every local employed, employers may recruit three foreigners.

Manpower Policies

• Work Holiday Programme (WHP)– To give bright university students

from overseas an experience of living and working in Singapore for up to six months

– To enhance Singapore’s reputation as a talent destination, valued for its working and living experiences

– Thereby attracting more foreign talent

Other Policies• Foreign Sports Talent Scheme• Used by sports officials and

organisations in Singapore to scout, identity and facilitate the migration of non-Singaporeans deemed to possess sports talent to play in Singapore colours in sporting events.

• 54 athletes had benefited from the programme and received Singapore citizenship, of which 37 were still in active training.

Effects

• Pros– More diversified working

environment– Adds value to Singapore in terms of

knowledge, expertise, experience – improves efficiency

– Brings more cultures, traditions along with these talents – diversify our cultures.

Effects

• Pros– More competition within –

encourage locals to work hard – increases productivity

Effects

• Cons– Unemployment for locals– Some foreign talent are “foot –

loose”– Results in over competitive lifestyles– Exemplifies the already existent

problem of brain drain of talents from Singapore

Attitudes

• Supportive– Feel that such a policy will benefit

Singapore greatly in terms of economic productivity

– Feel that the policy will stem the complacency of Singaporeans

– Increases our population as most of the foreigners are permanent residents

– Locals do not possess skills or creativity like foreigners do

Attitudes

• Unsupportive– Feel that the govt. is not really

attracting foreign talent, but rather foreign workers only

– Feels threatened by these foreign talents

– Feels that it is a short term solution to boost the economy as it is not sustainable to always depend on foreigners

– Kills off local culture and increases foreign influence on locals

Reflection on govt.

• Farsightedness of govt.– Can foresee the need to replace

aging population– Can foresee the need to explore high

technology sectors and the need to employ foreign talent

• Flexibility in approach– Can think of using attracting foreign

talent to solve various local problems

Reflection of govt.

• Thinks of many pronged approach to issue– Comes up with tax and manpower

policy shows that the govt. thinks of many different ways, approaches

References• Foreign Talent Policy: of principle and

practice: The Online Citizen - a community for Singaporeanshttp://theonlinecitizen.com/2007/05/foreign-talent-policy-of-principle-and-practice/

• Little Speck - Foreign Talent by Seah Chiang Neehttp://www.littlespeck.com/content/economy/CTrendsEconomy-020430.html

• http://www.socyberty.com/Government/Foreign-Talent-and-Singapore.281563

• http://www.singapore21.org.sg/art_talent.html

• http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.article?id=999

References• http://www.mof.gov.sg/budget_2003/budget

_speech/subsection4.3.html• http://www.pmo.gov.sg/News/Speeches/

Senior+Minister/KEYNOTE+ADDRESS+BY+SM+GOH+AT+THE+SINGAPORE+HUMAN+CAPITAL+SUMMIT.htm

• http://www.mof.gov.sg/budget_2008/speech_toc/downloads/FY2008_Budget_Statement.pdf

• http://www.iras.gov.sg/irasHome/page03_ektid338.aspx

• Channel News Asia Article on Ministry of Manpower's foreign talent related policieshttp://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/277027/1/.html

Thank you

Questions?