The future of skill formation in Singapore

In thirty years Singapore has been transformed from a equatorial entrepot into one of the world’s most competitive economies. Its economy grew at an average of 9.1% between 1960 and 1990. Its GNP per capita increased from S$435 in 1960 to S$26,475 in 1997 taking it above France, Sweden, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom. The economic success of Singapore and the other Asian Tiger economies most notably South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan, were seen to be closely connected to the development of their human resources. The outstanding performance the Japan and the Asian Tigers in international tests in Mathematics and Science is assumed to confirm this view: Singapore is frequently top in both subjects. For the authors of the World Bank report The Asian Miracle there was little to add to the explanation that it was the quality of the workforce that held the key to explaining the success of these economies, but other analysts pointed to the crucial role of the ‘developmental’ state in orchestrating the exponential economic development in these countries, ‘A state is developmental when it establishes as its principle of legitimacy its ability to promote and sustain development, understanding by development the combination of steady high rates of economic growth and structural change in the economic system, both domestically and in its relationship to the international economy’ (Castells,1996: 182). The purpose of this paper is not to engage in a detailed historical analysis of Singapore’s economic development as there are now a number of good accounts but rather to examine the issues, challenges and prospects for Singapore in light of economic globalisation, technological change, and the Asian financial crisis