Redditor questions if Singaporeans are losing jobs to foreigners from regional countries
A Reddit post has recently gone viral for raising a concern that’s quietly worrying many in Singapore: Are Singaporeans losing jobs to foreigners from neighbouring Southeast Asian countries?
In a thread posted on r/askSingapore, a Redditor shared their personal experience: “I’ve heard from two sources about this: A cybersecurity company in SG laid off their managers and rehired in Malaysia. Another told me that their local office only has six employees, but the overseas workforce outnumbers them significantly.”
Is SG losing jobs to neighbouring SEA countries?
byu/roflmctofl inaskSingapore
This prompted the OP to wonder whether this is a growing trend and what impact it could have on the Singapore job market.
Netizens feel it has been ongoing for many years
Many in the comments seem to think the trend was already well underway. One netizen from the IT financial sector shared that their company was relocating operations to neighbouring countries, especially Malaysia.
Source: Reddit
The reason is that their technical ability and language skills are apparently on par with Singaporeans, while their cost is only one-third that of a worker in Singapore.
A Reddit user agreed, saying they once worked at a company where Malaysians comprised 90% of the staff before the company eventually outsourced the roles overseas.
Source: Reddit
Another commenter highlighted that the trend of jobs shifting out of Singapore has been ongoing for a few years, and that it is more difficult to find good job roles nowadays.
Source: Reddit
Another netizen painted a bleak future for Singaporeans, saying junior and mid-level jobs will go to other countries as they are cheaper. In their view, lead roles will also be affected as there would not be Singaporean workers with the required work experience.
Source: Reddit
This Redditor highlighted that artificial intelligence (AI) has levelled the playing field and taken away one of Singaporeans’ “major competitive advantage” — our English proficiency.
Source: Reddit
Also read: Redditor sparks debate by asking if there are more foreigners than locals in S’pore’s public spaces
Redditor sparks debate by asking if there are more foreigners than locals in S’pore’s public spaces
Have news you must share? Get in touch with us via email at news@mustsharenews.com.
Featured image from kanchanachitkhamma on Canva. For illustration purposes only.
