SAP 2.57/WP.106
SECTORAL ACTIVITIES PROGRAMME
Working Paper
Foreign construction workers in Singapore
By George Ofori
School of Building & Estate Management
The National University of SingaporeWorking papers are preliminary documents intended to
stimulate discussion and critical commentsInternational Labour Office Geneva
Contents:
The terms of reference for the preparation of this report were:
To obtain existing primary and secondary source data on migrant labour in the construction industry on questions such as:
This report considers foreign construction workers in Singapore. It was prepared from published material available in Singapore. It concentrates on site operatives, both skilled and unskilled. To put the issue into the proper context, the report also discusses the recruitment of foreign workers in other sectors of the economy.
The report first provides an overview of the construction industry in Singapore. It then discusses the structure of the construction workforce, highlighting the place of foreign workers. The countries from which Singapore obtains such workers are indicated, and the wages of Singaporean and foreign construction workers are compared. The nation's policies on foreign construction workers are next discussed, highlighting their historical development and considering some of the main instruments including the work permit, the dependency level and the foreign worker levy.
The effects of the use of foreign workers on the local construction industry, are discussed, and efforts being made to reduce Singapore's reliance on foreign construction workers are outlined. These include training and certification, creation of a good working environment and upgrading of construction operations. Finally, the report considers briefly, likely future issues relating to the use of foreign construction workers in Singapore.
All financial data in this report are in Singapore dollars (SGD), denoted as $. At the time of writing this report in July 1994, US$1.00 = SGD1.52. Annual data in the report relate to calendar years, except where reference is made to the fiscal year (1 April to 31 March) as in the case of figures published by the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB).
