Restructure the Global Economy - a comment

Here is a comment submitted to my survey.


S'pore's economy is traditionally based on an MNC model. It favours MNCs, while locals who are employed are somehow marginalised as "workers" under a capitalist model. And our GLCs also follow this model. As such we are too subjected to "global" influences. So I agree we need our "own culture" and to set own "priorities" with a certain degree of protectionism, for our workers and also local SMEs. The bringing-in of cheaper FTs and general workers further aggravates the situation. 


The NTUC and labour union movement is somehow "muted" despite the Govt's selling of tri-partite cooperation. Sectoral differences are wide and exploitation due to non-existent "minimum wage" is valid and true. Even PMETs are marginalised and exploited. 


The traditional MNC models was built based on long-term employment and benefits. While seniority-based wage structure was torn down, nothing is done to promote better wages through performance based wages with PMETs getting cheaper and also disposable, thus threatening the firm's core-competencies. Practices by MNC firms are still distorted. It is "caught-in-between" in strategy with cost cutting measures still emphasied in extreme and then the current hiatus towards "productivity". The alignment in policies is still not clear or well-implemented. The re-structuring is necessary.

As the capitalist model of the world economy fails, we need to be more organic ... and firms must evolve more organically towards what the market wants in order to sustain employment, not what politicians wants to be re-elected.


Survey respondent