Research question: How can Singapore cope with the ageing population in the globalization perspective.
In the seven minutes presentation about the globalization, Goldin suggests that globalization leads to dramatic change in technology and this will help us to support the aged. As he suggests, the world is ‘moving from population pyramids to what we might term population coffins’.Globalization stimulates the international cooperation in different realms so that we can cope with the future challenges.
Ageing population generally refers to increasing proportion of senior citizens. Larger proportion of resources which could be used to stimulate economy is used to provide life support and increase people’s life expectancy instead. This will simultaneously increase the burden of working population as they need to work harder to raise the aged family members.Singapore face increasing pressure of ageing population. Due to the government report, the proportion of those aged 65 and above formed 11.7 percent of the citizen population by 2013, which used to be 7.8 percent in 2002(Population in brief ,2013).The old-age support ratio, which is the number of citizens in the working age band of 20 to 64 needed to support one older citizen, is decreasing rapidly. It has fallen from 8.4 in 2000 to 5.5(Straits Times,2013 Sep.).
I believe globalization is linked to the ageing population in Singapore, an international state, to a larger extent. Globalization intensifies the ageing population in Singapore. However, we can take the advantage of the globalization effect which can help Singapore to relieve the population tension in the state, just like the old proverb says ‘The only one who can fix the problem is the one who created the problem’.
The direct causes to the ageing population problem are rising life expectancy and declining birth rates(ageing population, Wikipedia).With the globalization and the development of technology and medical science, people enjoy better life expectancy and medical service. Many incurable diseases are not longer nightmares for patients. With the better life quality, people generally live longer. Due to the inflow of western culture, the old Asian ideology about marriage and giving birth is altered. People tend to remain single or do not give birth as they believe the children and marriage are the obstacles for their freedom. More and more people refuse to give birth or have children after 30 years old as they consider children as the burden in their life. Especially, well-educated women generally delay marriage or childbirth or even choose to live a single life. Therefore, we can find that globalization is pushing Singapore to the future ageing population.
Various strategies can help to solve or relieve the ageing population tension. Government can adopt policies to attract foreign talents and skilled workers to Singapore. As at December 2011, we had 3.27 million Singapore Citizens , and 0.54 million Permanent Residents . Together, they made up the resident population of 3.81 million. We also had a non-resident population of 1.46 million who are working, studying or living in Singapore on a non-permanent basis,whereas Singapore’s total population was 5.26 million. (Composition of Singapore’s total population,2011).The inflow of the foreigners provide outstanding and sufficient workforce to ensure the economy prosperity in Singapore. This will lessen the burden for working Singaporean populations to raise the old people. However, the foreign talent policy is a controversial policy all the while, as people worry about the problem caused by huge flow of outcomers, like security , local people working opportunities, environment, housing and so on. After all, everything is a double-edged sword, as even a rose has its thorns. How to use the policy is still a challenge for the government to solve the ageing population problem.
Another solution would be the extension of the retirement or re-employment of the senior citizens. Singapore adopt the Retirement and Re-employment Act(RRA)(Ministry of manpower), senior citizens and PRs are eligible for re-employment upon reaching the age of 62 if they have at least a satisfactory working performance and medically fit. This solution will be more human as people can earn more salary in these years which will help themselves to achieve a better life. According to Goldin’s lecture, these aged citizens will be smarter and their knowledge and experience can valuable to society.However, this measure is more cater to the skilled employees. Unlike the well-educated skilled employees who can sit in the office and do simple jobs, the less educated workers have to do physical job which can be harmful to their physical condition. I believe whether we use re-employment or extension of the retirement measure, we should choose on the premise of being less harmless to citizens’ interest.
In conclusion, the ageing population problem is faced by people around the world. It can be a bomb to Singapore economy if it is not under control. Therefore, we should be open to the world and remain confident in Singapore’s future.
Reference:
1. Videos on globalization:
Goldin, I. (2009, July). Navigating our global future [Video file]. Retrieved from
2. Population in brief, Retrieved from
http://population.sg/population-in-brief/2013/#.Ux1kro2BQx4
3. Tessa.W ,Fast-ageing Singapore, fewer to support aged,Straits Times, Retrieved from
http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/singapore/story/fast-ageing-singapore-fewer-support-aged-trend-worries-experts-2013092
4.Composition of Singapore’s total population,2011, Retrieved from
http://population.sg/resources/population-composition/#.UxifK42BQx4
5. Ministry of manpower,Retrieved from
http://www.mom.gov.sg/employment-practices/employment-rights-conditions/retirement/Pages/retirement.aspx
No comments:
Post a Comment