What this lesson teaches
I can explain how globalisation creates both job opportunities and job challenges for individuals.
Syllabus K336, Issue 3, Guiding Question 2, Economic impacts of globalisation. Employment opportunities and challenges experienced by individuals
Make a guess
Singapore offers special passes to attract top foreign talent. Do you think foreign talent always takes jobs from locals?
- Yes, so Singapore should cut back on foreign hiring.
- Yes, each foreign worker hired means one local does not get a job.
- No, top talent can also create work and bring new skills.
Show the answer
No, top talent can also create work and bring new skills.
Brain gain can grow industries and teach skills. Policies such as COMPASS also check that firms support local employment.
Skilled people move between countries for work. Singapore competes for global talent while trying to make sure Singaporeans also benefit.
Globalisation lets skilled workers move to where the best jobs are. When a country loses many skilled people, it is called a brain drain. When it attracts them, it is a brain gain.
Some Singaporeans work abroad. In May 2024, a Minister told Parliament that, over the past decade, citizens who had been overseas for 12 months or more made up about 2% to 3% of the citizen population.
Singapore also competes for top talent. The Overseas Networks and Expertise (ONE) Pass, available from 1 January 2023, lets top talent in fields such as business, arts, sport and research work for several companies in Singapore under one five-year pass.
Bringing in foreign professionals can raise worries about competition for jobs. Since September 2023, new Employment Pass applications must pass a points framework called COMPASS. It looks at salary and qualifications, and also at whether the firm has a diverse workforce and supports local employment.
- Brain drain
- A country loses skilled people to jobs abroad. Brain gain is the reverse.
- ONE Pass
- Five-year work pass for top talent, available from 1 January 2023.
Real examples to use
COMPASS
Points framework for new Employment Pass applications from September 2023, including a firm's support for local employment.
Worked example: Using this briefing in an answer
A case study is about a country losing young graduates to jobs overseas.
- Name the idea: this is a brain drain, part of how globalisation creates both opportunities and challenges for workers.
- Opportunity: workers can earn more and gain experience abroad, and some bring skills and networks home later.
- Challenge: the home country may lose people it trained, which can slow growth in key industries.
- Singapore's response: it attracts talent with the ONE Pass, but uses COMPASS so that foreign hires complement, rather than replace, local workers.
Watch out for this
Foreign talent always takes jobs from locals.
Foreign talent can fill skill gaps and help firms grow, creating jobs too. Frameworks such as COMPASS aim to make foreign hires complement local workers.
Check your understanding
What is the COMPASS framework for?
- Checking that new Employment Pass holders complement local workers well.
- Paying Singaporeans working abroad to return home for jobs in growth sectors.
- Setting a cap on the share of foreign professionals in each company.
Show the answer
Checking that new Employment Pass holders complement local workers well.
Right. It scores salary and qualifications, and firms' diversity and support for local hiring.