After a very difficult couple of years, the Singapore economy is really up and running again, and it could well soon be standing room only for new firms wanting to site their off-shore manufacturing there: NEC Corp now reckons that the costs of advertising to hire new employees now run to $400 a head, and Seagate Technology Corp, possibly the largest employer in Singapore, spent $200,000 in the Straits Times alone in a recent recruiting campaign; the shortage of labour and the widespread poaching of staff is driving firms to look to the mainland for labour – Malaysia and Thailand being among the most popular sources – but Singapore is not too keen on this and slaps a tax on the salaries paid to foreigners brought in from its neighbours.