In focus: How fewer migrant workers means challenges beyond the construction sector

With COVID-19 travel restrictions limiting the number of foreign workers coming to Singapore, CNA spoke to several experts to examine how this has implications for sectors other than construction and what a longer-term solution might be. 

Asst Prof Laavanya Kathiravelu from NTU’s SSS, whose work has centred around migrant labour from South Asia, said that the pandemic has definitely exposed one of the weaknesses of being so reliant on low-wage migrant labour, but this reliance is not an economic or social model that is unique to Singapore. “For this model to change, and to reduce dependence on foreigners to perform such work, there needs to be both legislative and mindset changes,” she said.

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