Speaker 1: Joining us for more is Michelle Jambresco, who sat in
Speaker 1: on that interview and wrote our Bloomberg news piece as well.
Speaker 1: She has Bloomberg Senior Asia Economy reporter with me in
Speaker 1: the Singapore studio. So, Michelle, he was talking about the
Speaker 1: global rainmakers. We were talking there about what actually happens
Speaker 1: in terms of accommodating lgbt Q plus workers in their
Speaker 1: spouses to what kind of struck out to you from
Speaker 1: the interview. Yeah, I mean this is a special opportunity,
Speaker 1: by the way, Jules. I mean, the Manpower Ministry isn't
Speaker 1: known to be one of the most transparent ministries. They
Speaker 1: obviously want to keep their cards close to their chests
Speaker 1: in terms of what they're looking for in this global talent,
Speaker 1: because as Minister Tan remarked to us, he doesn't want
Speaker 1: to start a bidding war, uh if they're too specific
Speaker 1: about the fields that they're looking for. But a few
Speaker 1: things struck me from that interview and from his conversation
Speaker 1: with some of us afterward. And you know, he really
Speaker 1: didn't want to see the salary threshold of the highlighted
Speaker 1: past the one so called one past five year visa
Speaker 1: for new top global talent. He didn't want that salary
Speaker 1: threshold to be h two over emphasis. As he said,
Speaker 1: salary is just one proxy. Uh, it is a very
Speaker 1: high amount. As you were marked in the interview. This
Speaker 1: Singapore thirty thousand dollars a month, uh is just equates
Speaker 1: to about seven thousand or eight thousand of the current
Speaker 1: employment pass holders in Singapore, a country of five and
Speaker 1: a half. Yeah, the top five percent of that UPPERCRUSS So, um,
Speaker 1: it is a very small portion. But he didn't want
Speaker 1: that to kind of discourage or or kind of close
Speaker 1: people's thinking on what kind of talent they would be ringing.
Speaker 1: And Minister Tanna, a medical doctor by training himself, talked
Speaker 1: about you know, different areas of of course medical fields,
Speaker 1: uh and other next generation and uh, you know, very
Speaker 1: highly sought after fields that he would they would be
Speaker 1: looking for. He included Mr and A in in that,
Speaker 1: and and talked about research and everything. So it was
Speaker 1: interesting to see how they wanted to open the door
Speaker 1: a little bit further to what they were looking for
Speaker 1: in this global talent. Yeah. I think what was interesting
Speaker 1: and I think both you and I kind of tried
Speaker 1: to push him on these two is is are you
Speaker 1: going off to people from Hong Kong that exodus if
Speaker 1: it's that top five percent, which is predominantly papal in
Speaker 1: finance or fintic, are you trying to capitalize on the
Speaker 1: fact that expats do want to leave Hong Kong at
Speaker 1: the moment, Yeah, very hot issue and a question we
Speaker 1: get a lot of very um. A tough one to quantify,
Speaker 1: and you won't often hear Singapore officials, Uh, you know,
Speaker 1: of course will not be celebrating any any sort of
Speaker 1: demise out of Hong Kong. Um and they they do
Speaker 1: have our time conveying any sort of volume terms or
Speaker 1: around how many Hong Kongers are coming here, but in
Speaker 1: terms of the talent they're seeking, uh, you know, what
Speaker 1: Minister Tan told us was that they're welcoming of that
Speaker 1: talent from Hong Kong, but they won't target it. So
Speaker 1: you know, he he talked a little bit about with
Speaker 1: us after about Hong Kong and Singapore always bouncing back
Speaker 1: from crises and uh, you know, having flows back and
Speaker 1: forth of labor and talent, and and so he doesn't
Speaker 1: seem to worried about them in any case. But the
Speaker 1: nations and focus that they've been talking about lately are
Speaker 1: the ones that have updated their foreign worker views of policy.
Speaker 1: Is so competition for Singapore including U A, E, UK,
Speaker 1: Germany and UH in this neighborhood Thailand, And just very
Speaker 1: quickly we also spoke about, you know, how does this
Speaker 1: kind of sit with the local population if you're trying
Speaker 1: to attract more foreign target and I guess more foreign workers,
Speaker 1: I should say, I guess again. He was saying, look,
Speaker 1: these are specific jobs. At at the moment, we don't
Speaker 1: have enough people in Singapore to to feel that's right.
Speaker 1: And I think he's counting on and the other government
Speaker 1: officials are counting on kind of this message of look,
Speaker 1: we've come out of COVID, we now have a very
Speaker 1: tight labor market. It's not the labor market we were
Speaker 1: looking at a couple of years ago when they institute
Speaker 1: some tighter rules for foreign worker hiring. So some of
Speaker 1: those rules in fact have been reversed around the duration
Speaker 1: of having to post a job in Singapore for local workers. UH,
Speaker 1: that sort of thing. So he does have a tough job,
Speaker 1: and especially Minister Tan because he has some responsibilities with
Speaker 1: m t I, which is more external facing ministry. But
Speaker 1: you know, he talked about this balance and and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, just emphasize that the government needs to be
Speaker 1: honest and open about it. Indeed, alright, Michelle, great collaborating
Speaker 1: with you on that. Bloomberg Peace. Michelle gen Rascoe, Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Senior Asia Economy reporter with US in Singapore.