Abstract
The Singapore Government faces a dilemma in balancing the need for imported foreign skilled workers to sustain its economy, while also gaining Singaporeans’ acceptance of these migrants into Singaporean society. Governments and organisations around the world have argued the advantages of international migration, especially the relocation of skilled workers, for receiving countries. Foreign skilled workers help to address skills gaps, provide skills transfer, and uplift living standards, helping long-term economic growth. However, their presence produces social tension within many societies, including Singapore, as the local population may hold negative attitudes towards migrants due to perceived threats to their economic and social well-being. Although international scholarly evidence points to certain societal tension arising from the presence of foreign skilled workers, it is unclear how Singaporeans attitude will respond to changes in the numbers of foreign skilled workers. As such understandings for Singapore remain silent in the literature, it is worthwhile to gain a better understanding of how Singaporeans view foreign skilled workers when their numbers in Singapore change notably during the Covid pandemic..Singapore is a popular destination for most foreign workers to develop their career as it is a meritocratic and safe city with competitive tax rate. The city state is among countries with substantial number of foreign workers like Australia, United Kingdom and Germany. Singapore’s labour market is made up of 37.6% foreign workers in 2019 (MTI, 2019) in comparison to Australia with 26.3% (ABS, 2022), United Kingdom 11.3% (ONS, 2021) in 2019 and Germany 12.5% (Statista, 2025) in 2023. However, the outbreak of Covid pandemic disrupted the flow of international migration, with permanent migration inflows to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries including Singapore, fallen by more than 30% in 2020 (OECD, 2021).
In 2021, the number of foreign skilled workers in Singapore fell 9.5%, a substantial decline not seen in the last 10 years, mainly due to Covid. This study seeks to evaluate how this sudden, largest shift in foreign skilled workers numbers in a decade has affected Singaporeans’ attitudes towards foreign skilled workers in Singapore at large. Using group threat theory, integrated threat theory, and realistic group conflict theory, the study identified Singaporeans as the ingroup and foreign skilled workers as the outgroup to learn about the realistic threats on Singaporean attitudes. The research gathered primary data from Singaporeans about their attitudes and perceptions towards foreign skilled workers on the competition for employment and public resources using a retrospective survey and semi-structured interviews. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used to analyse the data, which involved regression and content analysis using a mixed method research approach.
The findings show most Singaporeans have neutral attitudes towards foreign skilled workers, which did not change during the study period (from 2019 to 2021). The study was conducted during the Covid pandemic when there was a perception that foreign skilled workers were a threat to locals, however, the number of foreign skilled workers decreased during this period. The results also indicate that competition for houses, support for government immigration policies, and acquaintances with foreigners affect Singaporeans’ attitudes towards foreign skilled workers. These findings may prove valuable to the Singapore Government as they offer new insights into the perspectives of Singaporeans. The findings will help local Singaporeans and foreign skilled workers in Singapore to better understand the anxiety in the society and how the integration of migrants can promote cohesion and inclusivity in Singapore.
| Date of Award | 2025 |
|---|---|
| Original language | English |
| Supervisor | Yogi VIDYATTAMA (Supervisor) & Xiaodong GONG (Supervisor) |