WEBVTT - Michelle Jamrisko on Tan See Leng (Audio)

0:00:00.360 --> 0:00:03.200
<v Speaker 1>Joining us for more is Michelle Jambresco, who sat in

0:00:03.240 --> 0:00:05.720
<v Speaker 1>on that interview and wrote our Bloomberg news piece as well.

0:00:05.760 --> 0:00:08.360
<v Speaker 1>She has Bloomberg Senior Asia Economy reporter with me in

0:00:08.360 --> 0:00:10.879
<v Speaker 1>the Singapore studio. So, Michelle, he was talking about the

0:00:10.880 --> 0:00:14.320
<v Speaker 1>global rainmakers. We were talking there about what actually happens

0:00:14.440 --> 0:00:18.120
<v Speaker 1>in terms of accommodating lgbt Q plus workers in their

0:00:18.160 --> 0:00:20.160
<v Speaker 1>spouses to what kind of struck out to you from

0:00:20.160 --> 0:00:23.239
<v Speaker 1>the interview. Yeah, I mean this is a special opportunity,

0:00:23.280 --> 0:00:25.800
<v Speaker 1>by the way, Jules. I mean, the Manpower Ministry isn't

0:00:25.840 --> 0:00:28.080
<v Speaker 1>known to be one of the most transparent ministries. They

0:00:28.640 --> 0:00:30.800
<v Speaker 1>obviously want to keep their cards close to their chests

0:00:30.840 --> 0:00:33.320
<v Speaker 1>in terms of what they're looking for in this global talent,

0:00:33.680 --> 0:00:37.640
<v Speaker 1>because as Minister Tan remarked to us, he doesn't want

0:00:37.680 --> 0:00:40.120
<v Speaker 1>to start a bidding war, uh if they're too specific

0:00:40.159 --> 0:00:42.480
<v Speaker 1>about the fields that they're looking for. But a few

0:00:42.479 --> 0:00:45.240
<v Speaker 1>things struck me from that interview and from his conversation

0:00:45.280 --> 0:00:48.000
<v Speaker 1>with some of us afterward. And you know, he really

0:00:48.040 --> 0:00:51.800
<v Speaker 1>didn't want to see the salary threshold of the highlighted

0:00:51.800 --> 0:00:54.680
<v Speaker 1>past the one so called one past five year visa

0:00:54.800 --> 0:00:57.920
<v Speaker 1>for new top global talent. He didn't want that salary

0:00:57.960 --> 0:01:00.400
<v Speaker 1>threshold to be h two over emphasis. As he said,

0:01:00.400 --> 0:01:03.040
<v Speaker 1>salary is just one proxy. Uh, it is a very

0:01:03.080 --> 0:01:04.680
<v Speaker 1>high amount. As you were marked in the interview. This

0:01:05.120 --> 0:01:09.120
<v Speaker 1>Singapore thirty thousand dollars a month, uh is just equates

0:01:09.160 --> 0:01:11.520
<v Speaker 1>to about seven thousand or eight thousand of the current

0:01:11.880 --> 0:01:14.400
<v Speaker 1>employment pass holders in Singapore, a country of five and

0:01:14.400 --> 0:01:18.160
<v Speaker 1>a half. Yeah, the top five percent of that UPPERCRUSS So, um,

0:01:18.200 --> 0:01:20.479
<v Speaker 1>it is a very small portion. But he didn't want

0:01:20.520 --> 0:01:22.759
<v Speaker 1>that to kind of discourage or or kind of close

0:01:22.840 --> 0:01:25.240
<v Speaker 1>people's thinking on what kind of talent they would be ringing.

0:01:25.280 --> 0:01:28.640
<v Speaker 1>And Minister Tanna, a medical doctor by training himself, talked

0:01:28.680 --> 0:01:32.000
<v Speaker 1>about you know, different areas of of course medical fields,

0:01:32.400 --> 0:01:35.280
<v Speaker 1>uh and other next generation and uh, you know, very

0:01:35.360 --> 0:01:37.840
<v Speaker 1>highly sought after fields that he would they would be

0:01:37.880 --> 0:01:40.720
<v Speaker 1>looking for. He included Mr and A in in that,

0:01:40.840 --> 0:01:43.360
<v Speaker 1>and and talked about research and everything. So it was

0:01:43.600 --> 0:01:46.000
<v Speaker 1>interesting to see how they wanted to open the door

0:01:46.000 --> 0:01:48.120
<v Speaker 1>a little bit further to what they were looking for

0:01:48.120 --> 0:01:50.240
<v Speaker 1>in this global talent. Yeah. I think what was interesting

0:01:50.240 --> 0:01:51.880
<v Speaker 1>and I think both you and I kind of tried

0:01:51.880 --> 0:01:53.720
<v Speaker 1>to push him on these two is is are you

0:01:53.800 --> 0:01:56.880
<v Speaker 1>going off to people from Hong Kong that exodus if

0:01:56.920 --> 0:02:00.200
<v Speaker 1>it's that top five percent, which is predominantly papal in

0:02:00.280 --> 0:02:03.520
<v Speaker 1>finance or fintic, are you trying to capitalize on the

0:02:03.520 --> 0:02:06.040
<v Speaker 1>fact that expats do want to leave Hong Kong at

0:02:06.040 --> 0:02:08.320
<v Speaker 1>the moment, Yeah, very hot issue and a question we

0:02:08.360 --> 0:02:11.160
<v Speaker 1>get a lot of very um. A tough one to quantify,

0:02:11.440 --> 0:02:14.880
<v Speaker 1>and you won't often hear Singapore officials, Uh, you know,

0:02:15.200 --> 0:02:17.960
<v Speaker 1>of course will not be celebrating any any sort of

0:02:18.000 --> 0:02:20.560
<v Speaker 1>demise out of Hong Kong. Um and they they do

0:02:20.760 --> 0:02:24.160
<v Speaker 1>have our time conveying any sort of volume terms or

0:02:24.200 --> 0:02:26.720
<v Speaker 1>around how many Hong Kongers are coming here, but in

0:02:26.800 --> 0:02:29.360
<v Speaker 1>terms of the talent they're seeking, uh, you know, what

0:02:29.480 --> 0:02:32.240
<v Speaker 1>Minister Tan told us was that they're welcoming of that

0:02:32.320 --> 0:02:34.440
<v Speaker 1>talent from Hong Kong, but they won't target it. So

0:02:35.000 --> 0:02:36.840
<v Speaker 1>you know, he he talked a little bit about with

0:02:36.960 --> 0:02:40.280
<v Speaker 1>us after about Hong Kong and Singapore always bouncing back

0:02:40.639 --> 0:02:43.400
<v Speaker 1>from crises and uh, you know, having flows back and

0:02:43.480 --> 0:02:46.680
<v Speaker 1>forth of labor and talent, and and so he doesn't

0:02:46.680 --> 0:02:49.440
<v Speaker 1>seem to worried about them in any case. But the

0:02:49.520 --> 0:02:51.680
<v Speaker 1>nations and focus that they've been talking about lately are

0:02:51.720 --> 0:02:54.000
<v Speaker 1>the ones that have updated their foreign worker views of policy.

0:02:54.080 --> 0:02:57.440
<v Speaker 1>Is so competition for Singapore including U A, E, UK,

0:02:57.720 --> 0:03:00.680
<v Speaker 1>Germany and UH in this neighborhood Thailand, And just very

0:03:00.760 --> 0:03:02.880
<v Speaker 1>quickly we also spoke about, you know, how does this

0:03:03.000 --> 0:03:06.760
<v Speaker 1>kind of sit with the local population if you're trying

0:03:06.760 --> 0:03:09.800
<v Speaker 1>to attract more foreign target and I guess more foreign workers,

0:03:09.840 --> 0:03:11.919
<v Speaker 1>I should say, I guess again. He was saying, look,

0:03:12.040 --> 0:03:14.560
<v Speaker 1>these are specific jobs. At at the moment, we don't

0:03:14.560 --> 0:03:16.680
<v Speaker 1>have enough people in Singapore to to feel that's right.

0:03:16.760 --> 0:03:18.720
<v Speaker 1>And I think he's counting on and the other government

0:03:18.760 --> 0:03:21.040
<v Speaker 1>officials are counting on kind of this message of look,

0:03:21.080 --> 0:03:22.960
<v Speaker 1>we've come out of COVID, we now have a very

0:03:22.960 --> 0:03:25.280
<v Speaker 1>tight labor market. It's not the labor market we were

0:03:25.320 --> 0:03:27.720
<v Speaker 1>looking at a couple of years ago when they institute

0:03:27.800 --> 0:03:31.000
<v Speaker 1>some tighter rules for foreign worker hiring. So some of

0:03:31.040 --> 0:03:33.480
<v Speaker 1>those rules in fact have been reversed around the duration

0:03:33.520 --> 0:03:36.760
<v Speaker 1>of having to post a job in Singapore for local workers. UH,

0:03:36.800 --> 0:03:38.760
<v Speaker 1>that sort of thing. So he does have a tough job,

0:03:38.760 --> 0:03:41.200
<v Speaker 1>and especially Minister Tan because he has some responsibilities with

0:03:41.320 --> 0:03:44.320
<v Speaker 1>m t I, which is more external facing ministry. But

0:03:44.360 --> 0:03:46.680
<v Speaker 1>you know, he talked about this balance and and uh,

0:03:46.720 --> 0:03:49.800
<v Speaker 1>you know, just emphasize that the government needs to be

0:03:49.880 --> 0:03:53.080
<v Speaker 1>honest and open about it. Indeed, alright, Michelle, great collaborating

0:03:53.120 --> 0:03:55.520
<v Speaker 1>with you on that. Bloomberg Peace. Michelle gen Rascoe, Bloomberg

0:03:55.600 --> 0:03:58.200
<v Speaker 1>Senior Asia Economy reporter with US in Singapore.