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Singapore’s productivity journey needs all hands on deck: Iswaran

Lee Yen Nee

SINGAPORE  As the Republic’s economy matures, growth will have to be sustained by productivity gains which requires “all hands on deck”, Second Minister for Trade and Industry S Iswaran said today (June 30).

The journey will be challenging, especially for the domestic-oriented sectors that have lagged behind export-oriented companies that have coped better with the restructuring process, Mr Iswaran said at the Singapore International Chamber of Commerce’s (SICC) SG50 luncheon.

“We have an array of businesses, many of which have sustained their businesses partly because they managed to get low-cost foreign manpower… What we are facing today is a re-allocation of resources and this will take a bit of time for the market to adjust,” he said in response to a question about whether the Government will consider opening the doors to more foreign workers in view of the low unemployment rate here.

“The reason why the export-oriented sectors are doing well is partly because of the competitive pressure. If we were to continue to grow, we have to raise our game in terms of productivity. The drag is in the more domestically oriented sectors and I acknowledged that there are certain constraints today… If we do not have a constraint, there will no impetus for change and we need to make that change in order to be sustainable in the long run,” he added.

Mr Iswaran’s comments came as labour productivity in Singapore recorded its fourth consecutive decline in the first quarter of this year, falling well short of the Government’s target of 2 to 3 per cent annual growth over a 10-year period to 2019. He said that the restructuring effort is one that requires “all hands on deck” - for all parties to do their part in order to emerge from the process stronger.

Mr Chaly Mah, the newly elected chairman of SICC, told reporters on the sidelines of the event that more businesses have to change their mindsets to ride on the productivity drive.

“Changing mindsets is not complaining about not having enough workers, but figuring out a way to continue to stay competitive because if you can’t, you can’t continue running a business. That’s the reality,” he said.

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