Scan barcode
A review by spacestationtrustfund
This Is What Inequality Looks Like by Teo You Yenn
3.0
The collected essays in this book are incredibly important. Not currently living in Singapore, there's obviously a lot I'm not personally comfortable speaking on, but I do know a fair amount more than the average non-Singaporean about the ongoing situation of migrant or "guest" workers and how terribly they're treated. Dr. Teo's book was published before stricter border control methods further complicated the problem, but that's also an ongoing problem, where workers are allowed (or, as is also common, forced) to stay in the country without being able to see their families. There's a really good essay by Harold Lee, "Servants Without Masters," which gives a good overview of the situation. To quote:
Pre-pandemic, in 2019, around 2.16 million immigrants lived in Singapore out of a total population of around 5.7 million, meaning that roughly 40% of the total population was foreign. More recent data from 2020 estimate the migrant workforce population as around 1.23 million, around a fifth of the entire population—essentially, one foreign worker for every four citizens. The majority of these migrant workers are Malaysian, although many are from other nearby countries such as Indonesia or the Philippines. The majority of migrant workers (nearly 60%) is classified as "unskilled" labour, and most foreigners work in "undesirable" jobs, primarily the service industry and domestic help. Even with border restrictions, nearly 250 thousand foreigners were employed as domestic workers in 2020.
These are depressing numbers. Singapore, like most other "developed" countries, likes to boast its benefits: extremely high percentages of citizens who have secondary education, work in well-paying fields, own property outright, and so on. But these are all concerning citizens, not temporary (or permanent) residents. And so it's easier not to think about the 40% of the population which has no voice.
Singapore’s policy on guest workers would make for an interesting essay in its own right. Briefly, though, the government makes it easy for guest workers to come if they can find work in various industries, including domestic service. Once in, you get a visa for a couple years, which does not come with voting rights or many of the perks of citizenship. But because this system is so rigorous in ensuring that would-be guest workers are net economic positives, it’s politically feasible for Singapore to take in a lot of guest workers. Proportionally, Singapore’s guest worker population is equivalent to the US taking in about two-thirds the population of Mexico – with huge net benefits to them and their families.Dr. Teo doesn't spend as much time discussing the ethnic divide between citizens (who have full access to various privileges, including voting rights, thus allowing them to preserve the status quo—and who wouldn't want to be waited on, after all?) and migrant workers. The predominant ethnicity in Singapore is those of Han Chinese descent, over 3/4 of the entire population; roughly speaking, the ratio of Chinese to the second-largest ethnic group—Malay—is close to 3000:544. (Interestingly, polls show that most citizens think of the relationship between religious and ethnic groups to be good, but remember that only citizens are being polled, not "guests.")
Pre-pandemic, in 2019, around 2.16 million immigrants lived in Singapore out of a total population of around 5.7 million, meaning that roughly 40% of the total population was foreign. More recent data from 2020 estimate the migrant workforce population as around 1.23 million, around a fifth of the entire population—essentially, one foreign worker for every four citizens. The majority of these migrant workers are Malaysian, although many are from other nearby countries such as Indonesia or the Philippines. The majority of migrant workers (nearly 60%) is classified as "unskilled" labour, and most foreigners work in "undesirable" jobs, primarily the service industry and domestic help. Even with border restrictions, nearly 250 thousand foreigners were employed as domestic workers in 2020.
These are depressing numbers. Singapore, like most other "developed" countries, likes to boast its benefits: extremely high percentages of citizens who have secondary education, work in well-paying fields, own property outright, and so on. But these are all concerning citizens, not temporary (or permanent) residents. And so it's easier not to think about the 40% of the population which has no voice.