How badly would stricter border restrictions have affected the manpower shortage?

The Ministry of Manpower said Singaporeans would certainly feel the impact of having fewer migrant workers in their daily lives.

More than 100,000. That’s how many migrant workers Singapore could have lost if it had banned their entry as part of the Circuit Breaker movement restrictions last year.

This is according to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), addressing the impact of potentially closing borders to all migrant workers to bring down the number of COVID-19 infections.

If entry was barred since April last year, it says Singapore would have experienced the following:
- 70,000 fewer migrant workers in the services sector, particularly in healthcare and cleaning
- 30,000 fewer construction workers on key infrastructure and building projects
- 30,000 fewer migrant domestic workers in Singapore households.

“We agree it makes sense to try to retain our existing workers. Indeed, many businesses are already doing so. They offer workers higher retention bonuses; and industry associations have been facilitating transfers of workers to new employers. However, many migrant workers are understandably homesick, are worried about their families at home, and wish to return home,” the ministry said.

Singapore has stopped all entry from South Asia since May 2.

“Our restrictions on inflow of workers from higher-risk countries will also likely persist for some time, until the situation improves. This is the only way we can ensure the safe inflow of workers, while managing the risk of transmission in the community,” the MOM said, adding that it is aware that the manpower crunch will affect not only Singaporean businesses but also Singaporean families.