Dexter2020
Good and Faithful Servant
I am writing to express my profound disagreement with the Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM) continued use of the term "complementary" to describe our foreign manpower influx. The latest full-year 2025 figures—showing 43,900 non-resident job gains against only 11,600 resident gains—expose a fundamental contradiction. If foreign labor were truly "complementary," they would be a secondary addition to a primary local core. Instead, we are seeing a 4-to-1 ratio in favor of non-residents. This suggests that foreign labor has become the primary driver of our workforce growth, effectively relegating locals to a minority stake in our own economic expansion.
Specific Points of Failure:
Erosion of Trust: Telling the public that foreigners "complement" us while they take up 80% of new opportunities feels like a deception. It suggests that the "Local-First" spirit of the COMPASS framework is not delivering the promised results in practice.
Sectoral Concentration: While the government points to "Work Permit holders in Construction," this does not account for the rising cost of living and the "xenocentric" shift in our retail landscape. When 80% of the growth is non-local, the entire economy pivots to serve that demographic, pricing out and alienating Singaporeans.
The "JB Escape": This policy imbalance is exactly why Singaporeans are spending their weekends and salaries in Johor. If we are only getting 20% of the new jobs, we no longer feel like the primary stakeholders of this city. We are voting with our wallets and taking our capital across the border.
Our Demand: We demand that "complementarity" be defined by a hard cap. If the resident workforce is not growing, the non-resident workforce should not be allowed to expand. We reiterate our call for a 100% Resident Growth KPI and a 0% Non-Resident Growth target for 2026/2027. The government must stop using language that obscures the reality of our labor market. We need a workforce policy that prioritizes the citizen, not one that treats us as a 20% afterthought. If these continues there will be a rising number of empty shopfronts because every dollars earned will be spent in the neighboring countries.
Specific Points of Failure:
Erosion of Trust: Telling the public that foreigners "complement" us while they take up 80% of new opportunities feels like a deception. It suggests that the "Local-First" spirit of the COMPASS framework is not delivering the promised results in practice.
Sectoral Concentration: While the government points to "Work Permit holders in Construction," this does not account for the rising cost of living and the "xenocentric" shift in our retail landscape. When 80% of the growth is non-local, the entire economy pivots to serve that demographic, pricing out and alienating Singaporeans.
The "JB Escape": This policy imbalance is exactly why Singaporeans are spending their weekends and salaries in Johor. If we are only getting 20% of the new jobs, we no longer feel like the primary stakeholders of this city. We are voting with our wallets and taking our capital across the border.
Our Demand: We demand that "complementarity" be defined by a hard cap. If the resident workforce is not growing, the non-resident workforce should not be allowed to expand. We reiterate our call for a 100% Resident Growth KPI and a 0% Non-Resident Growth target for 2026/2027. The government must stop using language that obscures the reality of our labor market. We need a workforce policy that prioritizes the citizen, not one that treats us as a 20% afterthought. If these continues there will be a rising number of empty shopfronts because every dollars earned will be spent in the neighboring countries.

Prayer Focus: God, Thank You for loving me. Thank You for loving me, Jesus. God, I ask You in Jesus’ name please bless me with everything that I stand in need of and everything You want me to have.