181,500 Foreigners bear the brunt on Singapore Job Loses

[ASEAN NOW News]

HSBC's fifth annual Expat Survey identified Singapore as the country with the richest expats. 

 

Fifty-four percent of expats in Singapore earn over US$200,000 a year, a higher proportion than anywhere else. ... Bermuda, Thailand, and Hong Kong came next in the ranking of expat wealth & luxury.

 

However, the spread of Covid-19 last year had resulted in a net outflow of expatriates - higher skilled professionals - moving out of Singapore due to job losses.

 

 

Many expatriates also chose to leave Singapore to move home to be with their families in the state of uncertainty.

 

Singapore is widely regarded as the easiest city in Asia for expats to fit into and it allows foreigners an opportunity to become acquainted with different cultures in a relatively safe and modern environment.

 

Singapore has a very low crime rate and the streets are safe, even in the middle of the night.

 

Singapore is Expensive

 

One of the biggest downsides to moving to Singapore is the cost. Everything is very expensive, from groceries and bills, to Western luxuries like alcohol and certain foods.

 

Singapore is consistently among the world's most expensive cities to live in, so this needs to be considered before moving.

 

Job Losses Rise

 

Singapore’s economy shrank by 5.4 per cent last year – its worst recession since its independence in 1965 – while total employment fell by the most in over two decades.

 

Yet locals were cushioned from the job losses by the government’s four stimulus packages totaling some S$100 billion (US$74.2 billion). 

 

Meanwhile over 181,500 foreigners felt the full force of job losses.

 

Indeed, non-residents accounted for the entirety of the island state’s employment decline, and those who lost their jobs formed 4.7 per cent of Singapore’s entire workforce, or 12.7 per cent of its foreign workers. 

 

The foreign-worker cull sparked by the Covid-19 pandemic  has eclipsed both the fallout of the global financial crisis of 2007-2008, when just 8,900 foreigners in Singapore lost their jobs, and the 43,000 who were laid off in the wake of the dotcom crash in 2000.

 

Rents Dip a Bit

 

The impact of Covid-19 on business travel and overseas assignments has caused monthly rents in Singapore to drop by an average of 2.0% for overseas workers.

 

The average monthly rent for expatriate accommodation in Singapore is now USD 4, 210 (SGD 5 747).

 

Hong Kong retains position as the most expensive location for expatriate accommodation, despite a drop of close to 6.0% in rental costs from last year

 

New York and Tokyo remain in second and third position respectively in the global rankings.

 

Singapore is now the 26th most expensive location for international executive-standard accommodation as rents fell by an average of 2.0% in 2020.

 

With many not willing or cannot afford to travel back home, the future staying in Singapore without a job is bleak.

 

And the job market currently is slow in most SE Asian countries as they cope with the new Delta variant.

 

Let's hope the job market picks up in the last quarter.