SINGAPORE: Amid growing concerns about rising foreign talent in Singapore, one Reddit user raised a pointed question about what continues to set Singaporeans apart in the job market.

“What competitive advantage do Singaporeans have in the job market?” the user wrote on the r/askSingapore forum on Tuesday (Mar 7). “Let’s exclude gov’t jobs, jobs that require security clearance, or jobs that ask for Singaporeans because the company has no quota for work passes.”

“Apart from these excluded jobs, what do we really offer to employers that makes it worth it to pay us 3x-5x the salaries of our ASEAN counterparts in their own countries. How could we differentiate ourselves?”

Providing more context, the user said the question was prompted by remarks from his department director, who warned that younger Singaporeans are becoming too complacent and may be losing their edge at work.

He added that many tend to believe being highly educated and producing good quality work is enough to succeed, but workers from neighbouring countries are catching up in competency, making Singaporeans seem increasingly expensive for the relatively small additional value they offer.

“We are the safer bet.”

The post sparked a wide range of responses, with many Singaporeans weighing in on what they believe their strengths are.

The most upvoted comment read, “To be objective, the typical (not every) Singaporean worker has stronger logical thinking and analytical skills compared to our neighbours. If you work in an MNC and deal with colleagues across the region, you’ll probably know what I mean.”

Another user added, “To be honest, we have a work ethic that’s more similar to the Chinese culture as compared to any ASEAN countries. I work for a Chinese MNC that has branches in most ASEAN countries, and my colleagues mentioned that yes, we are more expensive, but the responsiveness and work ethic very much lead our surrounding ASEAN countries.”

A third pointed out, “Our main selling point is the ability to code-switch and understand different accents. Anyone who has been on an international call where everyone is speaking English but no one understands each other—except the Singaporean—[knows this]. Also, we somehow navigate cultural differences pretty well too.”

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