Labour Chief: Don’t Follow The Danish Example

If
inflation is bad, consider a ‘worst-case scenario’ of Singapore sliding into
stagflation, said Lim Swee, secretary-general of the National Trades Union
Congress (NTUC) in Singapore.
    Mr Lim,
secretary-general of the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), illustrated his
point by comparing Singapore
to Denmark.
Both countries have near full employment, but Singapore‘s
economy grew by 7.5 per cent last year, while Denmark‘s was only 1.3 per cent.
    Denmark‘s slower growth rate was because it
was running out of workers but still placed a cap on foreign workers because of
integration issues, Mr Lim was told on a research trip there last week.
    “If we’re
short of construction workers, we allow (foreigners) to come as construction
workers. It helps us to keep growing our economy,’ he said, urging Singaporeans
not to view foreign workers ‘as a threat”, he told some 200 residents of
Sengkang West at a dialogue that wrapped up his visit to the constituency.