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Bifurcated Labour: The Unequal Incorporation Of Transmigrants In Singapore

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  • BRENDA S.A. YEOH

Abstract

Following a brief background on Singapore's development from a product of overlapping diasporas to a multiracial nation, this paper gives attention to the dynamics of renewed streams of transnational labour flows in the current decade in the shaping of the global city. It examines the bifurcated nature of Singapore's foreign labour policies and how the transience/permanence divide is predicated on ‘skill’. On the one hand, structural (non)incorporation of contract workers as they are inscribed into (and simultaneously proscribed by) the host society results in vulnerability among what are already heavily marginalised and ‘flexibilised’ workers with little job security and no opportunities for social advancement within the host society. On the other hand, building a nation in the image of globalisation also requires selectively inclusionist projects to entice foreign talent – highly skilled professional workers, technopreneurs, entrepreneurs and investors – in order to keep Singapore in the global race. These differential politics of inclusion and exclusion lock transmigrants into two structurally determined sectors of society and the economy, with, currently, no possibility of interpenetration.

Suggested Citation

  • Brenda S.A. Yeoh, 2006. "Bifurcated Labour: The Unequal Incorporation Of Transmigrants In Singapore," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 97(1), pages 26-37, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:tvecsg:v:97:y:2006:i:1:p:26-37
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9663.2006.00493.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Nick Lombardo, 2016. "Controlling Mobility and Regulation in Urban Space: Muslim Pilgrims to Mecca in Colonial Bombay, 1880–1914," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(5), pages 983-999, September.
    2. Po‐Fen Tai, 2010. "Beyond ‘Social Polarization’? A Test for Asian World Cities in Developmental States," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(4), pages 743-761, December.
    3. Po-Fen Tai, 2013. "Gender Matters in Social Polarisation: Comparing Singapore, Hong Kong and Taipei," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 50(6), pages 1148-1164, May.
    4. Weiqiang Lin & Brenda SA Yeoh, 2016. "Moving in relations to Asia: The politics and practices of mobility," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 48(6), pages 1004-1011, June.

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