MOM Says Singapore Would’ve Suffered Labour Shortage If Borders Were Closed After ‘Circuit Breaker’
After ‘Circuit Breaker’ ended last year, Singapore resumed importing workers as it was necessary to have sufficient human resources to build the country.
As a result, authorities continued to report imported Covid-19 cases daily. This prompted calls from citizens for Singapore to close its borders entirely to lessen the number of imported cases.
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In light of these sentiments on the ground, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) clarified how border restrictions would greatly impact Singapore society.
Businesses and families would have suffered severe repercussions, and the island would have had a labour shortage of some 130,000 migrant workers.
Labour shortage a consequence of closing borders
According to The Straits Times, MOM broke down the consequences of closing the borders after ‘Circuit Breaker’ last year.
There would have been a labour shortage of:
- 70,000 service sector workers
- 30,000 domestic workers
- 30,000 construction workers
Even so, MOM stressed that more migrant workers had left Singapore compared to those entering over the past year.
And due to border restrictions, authorities have not been able to “adequately replace” those who have left.
Singaporeans will feel full impact of border restrictions in coming weeks
Since 2 May, however, Singapore has effectively banned all arrivals from South Asia, reports The Straits Times.
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Concurrently, businesses have been appealing for more workers to enter Singapore due to workforce shortages.
MOM said these are some of the ways border restrictions will affect the daily lives of Singaporeans. More businesses and families will feel the impact more strongly “in the coming weeks and months”.
Restricting workers entering Singapore from higher-risk regions is expected to last for some time, at least until the situation gets better.
MOM noted that this is the only way to ensure the safe inflow of workers while managing transmission risks in the community.
Authorities must strike a careful balance
As the government has stressed on many occasions, Singapore relies on a healthy influx of migrant workers to build the country.
The current Covid-19 situation is worrisome. Hence authorities will have to strike a careful balance by weighing the country’s interests against the public health of the community.
Now that we have closed our doors to workers from all of South Asia, Singapore businesses and families will have to grapple with workforce shortage for a while.
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