Joint managing partner of TSMP Law Corporation, Ms Stefanie Yuen Thio, was quoted in a Business Times article published on 1 September 2020 on the suggestion to further raise minimum salary for EP holders in ICT and professional services, like that for finance sector.

She said: “Covid-19 has shown us that a lot of functions can be done from home. If it becomes too unproductive to hire a Singaporean – either because he is too expensive or isn’t as qualified as a foreigner – a company can use outsourced service providers, such as in India, the Philippines or China. After all, if a staff member can do the bookkeeping from their home in Bukit Panjang, why not outsource to someone working from his home in Bangalore in India, or Baguio in the Philippines?”

Business costs aside, the talk about such methods to maintain a Singaporean core also sends a “much more scary message”, she added, to the expatriate workforce: that of Singapore potentially turning protectionist.