Singapore: demand for foreign workers to increase

SINGAPORE: The demand for foreign workers is projected to increase significantly in Singapore by 2030 with the rise coming primarily from the health, household and construction sectors.

The National Population and Talent Division (NPTD) of the Prime Minister's Office said today that demand for foreign domestic workers or maids would increase to 300,000 by 2030 from 198,000 in 2011.

It said the demand will be due to the expected rise in the number of resident households and the number of households where both spouses would be working.

The demand for healthcare workers was projected to grow to 91,000 in 2030 from 50,000 in 2011, said the NPTD, adding that 28,000 workers in this sector would be foreigners.

This would be due to Singapore's ageing population as there would be fewer young people for each elderly person and ageing population would require more healthcare services.

Demand for construction workers was expected to remain strong over the next two to three years, estimated at 280,000, up from 250,000 in 2011.

The NPTD said workers would be required to meet the increased construction workload as the government ramps up infrastructure development, continues to build rail network, launches more housing projects, and builds more nursing homes and hospitals to cater to the ageing population.

The NPTD projected long term demand at 300,000 workers through to 2030.

The NPTD made the projections in an Occasional Paper released today, saying these projections were not targets but illustrated the growth and change in demand for workers in these sectors based on certain assumptions drawn from the country's demographic and demand trends.

Singapore depends totally on foreign maids to help in managing house-hold chores of its working population, its construction sector depends largely on foreign workers as locals shun working in the hot and muddy.

The healthcare sector meanwhile was seeing an increasing number of foreign workers with locals opting for better jobs in other sector of the economy.