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SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Singapore’s population has shrunk for the first time since 2003 as travel restrictions and job losses from the coronavirus pandemic have driven foreign workers out of the global business hub.
The general population fell by about 18,000 people, or 0.3%, to 5.69 million, according to an annual population report.
A sharp drop in foreigners, 2% to 1.64 million, as well as a marginal drop in permanent residents, outpaced a modest increase in citizens, some of whom returned from abroad as the pandemic swept across the country. the world.
“These trends were largely due to challenges related to COVID-19, triggered by weak demand and travel restrictions,” the report said, citing job losses in services, a sector that relies heavily on the underpaid foreign labor.
As the economy faces the deepest recession in its history, an economic decline officially estimated between 5% and 7% for the year, the government has been raising barriers to foreign hiring to preserve jobs for locals.
But officials in the low-tax corporate center, home to the Asian headquarters of many multinational companies, also warned that a populist turn could hurt business.
“We must be careful not to give the wrong impression that we are now closing down and no longer welcoming foreigners,” Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in a speech earlier this month, following an election in which the Opposition parties criticized the government’s immigration policies as too lax.
Singapore’s non-resident population has more than doubled in the past 20 years, driving population growth in a city-state with one of the lowest birth rates in the world.
This has sparked recurring concerns about competition for jobs and tensions in public infrastructure, which again came to light in the July 10 vote, in which the ruling Popular Action Party yielded a record number of seats to the opposition.
“As activities increase, there may be a new labor shortage in the future,” said Selena Ling, director of research and treasury strategy at OCBC Bank.
(Reporting by John Geddie, Aradhana Aravindan and Chen Lin. Edited by Gerry Doyle)
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