Singapore wants foreign workforce to beat falling fertility rate

SINGAPORE: Singapore, which has a sizable number of people of Indian origin, should take in 30,000 foreigners as new permanent residents every year to beat the falling fertility rate and ensure that its economy remains competitive, the government said today.

A White Paper on Population has proposed that Singapore should take in 15,000-20,000 new citizens each year from the PR pool of about 500,000-600,000 that would have to maintained by 2030 to stop the population from shrinking.

[caption id=“attachment_606266” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] By 2050, there would be more people above the age of 50 than younger Singaporeans. Replacing them would be challenging because of the falling fertility rate in the city state[/caption]

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About 30,000 new Permanent Residents (PR) is needed to keep the PR population stable at 500,000 to 600,000.

Over 900,000 Singaporeans, more than a quarter of citizens, would retire from the workforce between now and 2030, according to the paper.

“Many Asian cities are modernising rapidly, and catching up on us,” the government said.

By 2050, there would be more people above the age of 50 than younger Singaporeans. Replacing them would be challenging because of the falling fertility rate in the city state.

The paper pointed out that Singapore’s total fertility rate (TFR) has fallen below the replacement level of 2.1 in the past 30 years.

Last year, the TFR was about 1.3, according to preliminary figures. Singapore’s citizen population size would start to decline by 2025, according to the paper.

The shrinking population would also have an impact on the city state’s economic growth.

Singapore’s Gross Domestic Product growth beyond 2020 would likely fall to between 2 and 3 per cent a year, from the current 3 to 5 per cent projection for this decade.

Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean said: “This White Paper is the first time the government has set out a comprehensive population roadmap to strike the best balance in our population policies.”

At the heart of the White Paper’s strategy lies 3 principles: maintain a strong Singaporean core, create good jobs and opportunities for Singaporeans, and have a high quality living environment, reported the Channel News Asia.

Teo said: “Going forward, we want to make sure that the roadmap that we have is an appropriate one, and if we focus on those key issues, making sure that we have enough young Singaporeans, a population structure that can provide for our seniors.

“Second, that we have an economic structure that will provide for good jobs that an increasingly better educated Singaporean population wants. And we can provide a high quality living environment.

“I think if we can do these three, then we look at the population number and the population we need to achieve these three objectives and that’s the way we looked at it.

“So the growth rate of both the workforce and the population will be half to a third of what it has been in the last three decades, and we have to strike a fine balance because if we don’t grow at all, or shrink, then we’ll face all the problems of an ageing population, the lack of dynamism in the economy which some of you are concerned about.

“But if we grow too quickly, then we may go beyond the constraints we have. So we’ve been trying to find the appropriate balance,” said Teo.

Singapore has a land area of just 714 square kilometres and a population of 5.3 million people. Foreigners account for just less than 40 percent of the population, up from about 25 per cent in 2000.

PTI