Ooh Baby Baby

It seems to be the reality of public policy that there is never a simple answer to a problem.

Case in point: Singapore continues to be an engine for growth in Southeast Asia, but that growth is coming only in terms of dollar signs and the number of jobs available. When it comes to the actual native population of Singapore, the trend is toward shrinkage rather than expansion.

Singapore’s birth rate has been below replacement level since the 1980s. The native population continues to decline as the fertility rate is down to 1.14 children per couple, one of the lowest rates in the world. The reasons for the low numbers are many, two of them being the high cost of living and the challenges of balancing a career with family life in Singapore’s culture.

Having low birth rates over the last few decades affects the nation’s labor force while companies are trying to grow. A 2019 report by the Ministry of Manpower showed that, during the previous year, there were 63,300 job vacancies identified in Singapore. Forty percent of those were new roles created by growth. As it turned out, a third of all roles sat empty for six months or more. Given all of this, it’s hardly a surprise that Singapore has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the world, at 2.2% in 2018 (2.9% if you only count Singaporean citizens and Permanent Residents).

Why is it so hard to fill positions? The Ministry’s report explained that “employers commonly cited lack of candidates with the necessary specialised skills or work experience for PMET [professional, managerial, executive, technical] vacancies that were hard to fill by locals.” So whether you say “there aren’t enough people” or “there aren’t enough qualified people,” the bottom line is that, as things stand, open positions cannot be filled merely by Singaporeans. This has long been the case, and that’s why Singapore has relied so heavily on foreign employees over the years.

But that may not be sustainable. The Singaporean public has pushed back against foreign workers, especially PMETs, and the government has made it a bit harder to hire foreigners. If the government is going to continue to be responsive to that concern, then some changes in the native population’s skill set, and in the working culture, need to happen.

There are three objectives that seem to fit Singapore’s current human capital issues:

1. People need to have more babies.

2. Singaporeans need to remain in the workforce.

3. Employees and candidates need the appropriate skills.

An answer to any one of these has the potential to disrupt the others, so it’s important to find a middle ground that helps make progress on all three, even if the result is not the maximum result for any one of them. Whatever answer comes up, it’s not going to be solely a government initiative, but instead needs to include private sector changes as well.
 

GOVERNMENT

The government has implemented programs that reward people for starting families, without necessarily making it easier for them to actually do that. If people are facing challenges, look at how you can help them move beyond those challenges.

Facilitate the growth of families:
Consider increasing child care subsidies

Either mandate longer maternity/paternity leaves, or at least provide incentives for companies to offer them (set the example by making changes to Civil Service requirements)

Allow singles to buy into HDBs earlier. While living with family until (and often even after) marriage is a common cultural expectation, living in one’s own place encourages more social mixing and potential for romance.

Build local capabilities:
In the near-term, continue investment in SkillsFuture and the Adapt & Grow initiative. Such programs should address both the technical skills that will be necessary in the future to do a particular job, and the “soft skills” (collaboration, communication, innovation, listening, leadership-specific skills, and others) that will be necessary for any job.

For the long-term, continue the changes to education introduced in the “Teach Less, Learn More” concept of 2004. “Memorize and regurgitate” just doesn’t cut it. Design curricula that encourage risk-taking, learning from failures, collaboration, critical thinking, peer coaching, and more.
 

COMPANIES

Reconsider maternity/paternity leave policies. These can be challenging – after all, someone has to do the work – but other developed countries have figured out how to do this, so surely Singapore can as well.

Emphasize quality of work, not quantity of hours. The idea that “I cannot leave until my boss does” or “If I don’t stay at work until late, people will think I am slacking” is pretty common in Singapore. That’s bad for raising families, and frankly, it doesn’t add much to performance, either. Set expectations around accomplishing work well rather than just being present in the office, and reward the behaviors that truly add the most value. (hint: turning 8 hours of work into a 12-hour day isn’t one of those)

Reevaluate job requirements. Consider the possibility that what you previously hired for may not be what you actually need, and be open to redefining job descriptions and required candidate qualifications. Look not only at technical skills (which can often be taught) but also at working style, emotional intelligence, and “cultural fit” with the company, which generally cannot be taught so easily.

Make a greater effort to train on the job. There is a long-time assumption that OJT simply means “if people come to work, they will learn,” but that’s not true any more than wandering from classroom to classroom at school with no learning objectives leads to an education. Help managers and leaders build learning objectives into work in addition to performance objectives.

Consider raising salaries. Singaporeans have a legitimate concern that many foreign employees will work for less, especially at the entry level, and this tends to bring down salaries. That has the dual impact of, first, making jobs less attractive to Singaporeans who don’t plan to live 6 to an apartment while sending money home to families in other countries, and second, driving salary levels down overall which reduces people’s interest in having kids.

It’s worth noting that any changes made today to raise the birth rate won’t affect the labor force for another 20 years or so; that’s why other changes need to happen, too. Adjusting corporate culture, making better use of employees’ skills, and upgrading the capabilities of the workforce, can all help Singapore continue to grow while the newest batch of babies grows up.