{"id":703878,"date":"2026-05-30T08:02:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T08:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/703878\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T08:02:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T08:02:11","slug":"rising-costs-in-singapore-spur-business-migration-as-regional-alternatives-rise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/703878\/","title":{"rendered":"Rising costs in Singapore spur business migration as regional alternatives rise"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recent moves by companies such as Gardenia and H&M to shift some operations from Singapore<\/a> across the Causeway have put the spotlight on Malaysia<\/a>\u2019s growing appeal as a more affordable base for businesses facing high costs and a tight labour market in the city state.<\/p>\n

But while the trend may look like an easy win for its neighbour \u2013 bringing investment, jobs and spillover opportunities \u2013 analysts say the gains could come with trade-offs, as an influx of firms drives up competition for skilled workers and risks leaving lower-skilled staff further behind.<\/p>\n

The shift also points to a wider regional recalibration, with other Southeast Asian economies such as Vietnam<\/a> and Thailand<\/a> positioning themselves as alternatives for companies moving lower-cost or labour-intensive functions out of Singapore.<\/p>\n

On May 20, food manufacturing company Gardenia announced it was shifting its bakery production from Singapore to Johor Bahru, resulting in 141 employees being laid off.<\/p>\n

The company said the move was part of an ongoing effort to improve operational efficiency and remain competitive amid an increasingly challenging global environment.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, Malaysian media reported that fast fashion retailer H&M would relocate its Southeast Asian headquarters from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, affecting close to 80 roles in the city state\u2019s office.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Recent moves by companies such as Gardenia and H&M to shift some operations from Singapore across the Causeway…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":703879,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[342624,342620,64,63,99,95134,164,342619,110600,342618,342622,342621,2819,935,342623,942,3725,342617,5611],"class_list":["post-703878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-apbs","tag-asia-pacific-breweries-singapore","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-eastern-economic-corridor","tag-economy","tag-gardenia","tag-hm","tag-heineken","tag-johor-bahru","tag-johor-singapore-special-economic-zone","tag-kuala-lumpur","tag-malaysia","tag-maybank-securities","tag-singapore","tag-thailand","tag-universiti-kebangsaan-malaysia","tag-vietnam"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=703878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703878\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/703879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=703878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=703878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=703878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}