Monitoring Growth of Foreign Workers

Mr Gan Thiam Poh asked the Minister for Manpower (a) in the past eight years, what has been the percentage and absolute number of growth of (i) foreign workers in total (ii) foreign workers in each industry/sector/segment; (b) what is the projected number of (i) foreign domestic helpers (ii) care givers (iii) healthcare workers for the next 15 years in view of the increase in the ageing population with 900,000 Singaporeans above the age of 65 years; and (c) whether the Government intends to reduce or cap the growth of foreign workers.

Mdm Speaker, the overall annual growth of foreign workers has moderated from 144,500 in 2007, eight years ago, to 34,000 in 2014. In other words, the growth rate has slowed from 19% year-on-year to 3% year-on-

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year over the eight years.

This significant slowdown in foreign worker growth occurred in all sectors over the past eight years. For the services sector, the slowdown was from 54,500 to 21,500; in other words, 28% year-on-year growth to 5% year-on-year growth. For the construction sector, it slowed down from 36,000, or 23% year-on-year growth, to 9,700, or 3% year-on-year growth. Likewise, in the case of the manufacturing sector, the slowdown was from 42,000 to a negative growth of 5,400; in other words, from 18% year-on-year growth to a contraction of 2%.

MOH had projected that the number of healthcare professionals needed would increase from 46,000 in 2011 to 78,000 in 2030 to cater to an ageing population with higher healthcare needs. The number of support care staff, such as healthcare assistants and nursing aides, would also need to increase by about 9,000 over the same period, from 2011 to 2030. In addition, to assist with care-giving duties at home and supporting families with elderly and children, the National Population and Talent Division (NTPD) expects demand for foreign domestic workers to increase to about 300,000 by the year 2030.

Our aim is to moderate the inflow of foreign manpower at a pace that we can accommodate. Currently, the foreign share of our workforce is about one-third. We intend to maintain this. This means that the pace of foreign workforce should grow broadly in tandem with the growth of our local workforce as we move forward.