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Singapore steps up migrant worker reforms amid calls for deeper change

admin

2026年1月10日
2 min read
calls change Covid-19 pandemic deeper Ethan Guo India International Migrants Day Lee Kay Chai masala tea migrant migrant workers Ramesh reforms Singapore Singapore Contractors Association steps Tamil Nadu Tan See Leng Transient Workers Count Too work permit holders worker

Singapore steps up migrant worker reforms amid calls for deeper change

The life of a migrant worker in Singapore is bittersweet.

Ramesh, 29, came to the city state in search of a good job. He hails from Tamil Nadu, India, and earns just over S$600 (US$466) a month working as a technician at a large multinational firm.

While this is double what he made in India and has helped put his sisters through college there, it is only about 10 per cent of the S$5,775 nominal median gross monthly income of Singaporeans.

Grappling with an ageing population and a low fertility rate, Singapore has stepped up efforts to improve conditions facing its many low-paid migrant workers, also known as work permit holders.

But a lack of space and high business costs are obstacles to improving their lives.

People pick up free clothing at a thank-you event for migrant construction workers in Singapore on November 30, 2025. Foreign workers account for about 40 per cent of the city state’s total population. Photo: Kyodo

Ramesh, a pseudonym, shares a dormitory room with 15 others. He commutes in the backs of open lorries, a practice non-governmental organisations want banned due to fatalities and injuries caused by traffic accidents. The government has responded with measures such as requiring lorries to be fitted with speed limiters.

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