foreign manpower tightening

[nakatago]

I think they already are, as is the Philippines. Entirely anecdotal but I was at a luncheon today and chatted with a guy who owns a manufacturing biz here. He's putting steps in place to move ops out of sp next year. Sad thing is he does employ a number of skilled locals it's a high tech sort of thing.

I'm not too sure about the tax rate in Philippines, but from what I heard, the infrastructure is not as good as Singapore.

That's not the point. The point is how much inconvenience MNC's are willing to suffer vs costs and convenience. If it's only about infrastructure and tax rates, no company would establish presence in Southeast Asia outside of Singapore.

FYI, infrastructure sucks balls. There are MNCs there anyway.

[ScoobyDoes]

A lot of the rest of the work force supplies goods and services to the MNC's. If they can't get the labor they need at a competitive rate, they cannot supply the MNC"s, and in they MNC's cannot get what they want they will go elsewhere.

That's the point.....one third suddenly turns into two thirds or three quarters at the next step down. Service industries and suppliers like SingTel, StarHub, SQ etc. suddenly begin to have a huge over capacity and the knock on effect is difficult to stop.

Can Hong-Kong or Malaysia do that?

They can, but..... costing in HK these days is quite prohibative. The property boom and doubling of prices together with price increases in a lot of items the mainland Chinese now flood over the border to buy (baby milk powder etc.) have meant new set ups could find it quite difficult, and especially if we are talking MNCs that can require a lot of staff and space.

Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam are all going to start causing a problem for Singapore.

[v4jr4]

Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam are all going to start causing a problem for Singapore.

Eh? What do you mean?

[zzm9980]

Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam are all going to start causing a problem for Singapore.

Eh? What do you mean?

They're going to start to look favorable for foreign operations vs Singapore.

[v4jr4]

Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam are all going to start causing a problem for Singapore.

Eh? What do you mean?

They're going to start to look favorable for foreign operations vs Singapore.

Batam/Bintan sounds good

[ututu]

A lot of the rest of the work force supplies Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam are all going to start causing a problem for Singapore.

May be Malaysia and Thailand but certainly not Indonesia & Philippines. Last two are complete and utter disasters as far as infra & physical security concerned (I really hate flying to Jakarta and Manila because of that). Add to that some fascinating cultural quirks and pretty soon it's not that workable environment.

I tried hard to find decent local engineer in Manila, all of those that pass 1st hurdle are working outside of PH and no, they don't want to work on local packages.

[v4jr4]

A lot of the rest of the work force supplies Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam are all going to start causing a problem for Singapore.

May be Malaysia and Thailand but certainly not Indonesia & Philippines. Last two are complete and utter disasters as far as infra & physical security concerned (I really hate flying to Jakarta and Manila because of that). Add to that some fascinating cultural quirks and pretty soon it's not that workable environment.

I tried hard to find decent local engineer in Manila, all of those that pass 1st hurdle are working outside of PH and no, they don't want to work on local packages.

Indonesia is not only about Jakarta. There are a lot of places that can be "updated", but I must admit that the rules of the game in Indonesia are ambiguous.

[nakatago]

I tried hard to find decent local engineer in Manila, all of those that pass 1st hurdle are working outside of PH and no, they don't want to work on local packages.

That's because local packages are laughably low. I won't defend the other things because they're indefensible but packages are dismal and hence the emigration rates.

The good ones you're looking for know their worth and have since left.

[JR8]

A lot of the rest of the work force supplies Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam are all going to start causing a problem for Singapore.

May be Malaysia and Thailand but certainly not Indonesia & Philippines. Last two are complete and utter disasters as far as infra & physical security concerned (I really hate flying to Jakarta and Manila because of that). Add to that some fascinating cultural quirks and pretty soon it's not that workable environment.

I tried hard to find decent local engineer in Manila, all of those that pass 1st hurdle are working outside of PH and no, they don't want to work on local packages.

Indonesia is not only about Jakarta. There are a lot of places that can be "updated", but I must admit that the rules of the game in Indonesia are ambiguous.

What strikes me about IN is that it cannot even exploit the geographic benefits of Batam/Bintan (the Riau islands). They could develop a low cost alternative to SG a mere stones throw away. Instead they specialise (it seems) in seafood restaurants and brothels for rich SGns. A travesty.

[zzm9980]

Instead they specialise (it seems) in seafood restaurants and brothels for rich SGns. A travesty.

Oh, they export something else too:
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/internat ... als/546190

[v4jr4]

May be Malaysia and Thailand but certainly not Indonesia & Philippines. Last two are complete and utter disasters as far as infra & physical security concerned (I really hate flying to Jakarta and Manila because of that). Add to that some fascinating cultural quirks and pretty soon it's not that workable environment.

I tried hard to find decent local engineer in Manila, all of those that pass 1st hurdle are working outside of PH and no, they don't want to work on local packages.

Indonesia is not only about Jakarta. There are a lot of places that can be "updated", but I must admit that the rules of the game in Indonesia are ambiguous.

What strikes me about IN is that it cannot even exploit the geographic benefits of Batam/Bintan (the Riau islands). They could develop a low cost alternative to SG a mere stones throw away. Instead they specialise (it seems) in seafood restaurants and brothels for rich SGns. A travesty.

The tax rules are even worse. Plus, the hidden costs are too much

[morenangpinay]

http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/ED ... yment-pass
PEP criteria tightened

squeeze some more ah

[sundaymorningstaple]

Morenangpinay, see my sticky thread on the subject......

[ScoobyDoes]

What strikes me about IN is that it cannot even exploit the geographic benefits of Batam/Bintan (the Riau islands). They could develop a low cost alternative to SG a mere stones throw away. Instead they specialise (it seems) in seafood restaurants and brothels for rich SGns. A travesty.

The large number of shipyards and rig builders etc. over there then is a mirage?

I stand by what I say, the other countries are not SO disadvantaged that they cannot make up for any difference in price or service perceptions. There are already large MNCs in each of those countries and whilst there is additional work required to operate smoothly, there is also an awful lot to gain.

[Brah]

Last week someone in Japan was telling me that while the mass exodus from Japan (due to the continued high JPY rate) continues and is probably accelerating, if in fact anyone is left there, that one company has said that they will no longer offshore to Singapore and will just move people to HK.

That's one company - if one is doing it, so will others.


Or did I say this already in a separate thread?......