The foreign worker levy in Singapore's industrial sector : efficacy and issues

The Singapore government concern about the economic, social and political cost of foreign workers has resulted in a number of mechanisms to control and regulate their inflow into Singapore. The chief of these is the foreign worker levy (FWL) in April 1982. The paper provides an economic analysis of the effectiveness of the FWL in achieving its two interrelated objectives, in consideration of Singapore resource constraints. The first of these objectives is to reduce the dependence on unskilled workers. The second is to expedite economic restructuring or the transition of labour-intensive production to more capital- and skill-intensive methods of production. (DÜI-Sen)