Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Nine Pillars Of Productivity, Augustine H. H. Tan

Research Collection School Of Economics

The report in The Straits Times on April 30, "S'pore cannot count on global demand to drive economy" makes for sober reading.Quoting Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, the report notes that inflows of foreign workers slowed from 80,000 in 2011 to 20,000 last year. Meanwhile, resident labour force growth is tapering off severely. Hence the conclusion of Mr Tharman that restructuring the domestic sector to achieve higher productivity would be essential. Upgrading skills and allowing more market forces to work in weeding out the less innovative and efficient firms would be the keys to achieving this objective.Prime Minister Lee Hsien …