Are you ready for 7 million people on tiny Singapore?
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WeiHan:
Most parents want their children to become medical doctors or lawyers. if not , then a PSC scholarships is the best...More prestigious. But after getting the PSC scholarship, find that investment banking make more money, so break bonds.
And then the kids complain that lawyers, doctors and investment bankers have no work-life balance because their rich clients and patients are ridiculously demanding. -
pirate:
So how? Do Singaporeans expect our government to come up with:
low class job? :scratchhead:sinoboy:
[quote=\"limlim\"]
Yup.. wonder if there is a term for that?
(1) hospitals with doctors but no nurses and orderlies;
(2) restaurants with restaurant managers but no cooks and service staff;
(3) hotels with managers and PR executives but no housekeeping, receptionists and service staff;
(4) construction firms with architects and structural engineers but no site foremen, clerk of works, supervisors, plumbers, electricians, etc;
(5) factories with engineers, and executives but no factory workers;
(6) retail shops with purchasing and sales managers but no sales staff?
And since we don't like filthy rich foreigners buying up all our COEs and Sentosa properties:
(7) financial industry where foreigners' money is welcome but they are not.[/quote]I guess for a while the Singapore manager vs. FW worker relationship worked eg. Singaporean doctors with foreign nurses. But when the outstanding, cheaper, more hardworking FW replaces the Singaporean manager and exacerbated by slowing economic conditions problem sets in. :lightrod: -
ruohoo97:
Why not indeed? That's precisely the point I am making. And then we complain that the education system here is too stressful. But I would be lying if I said that I look forward to DD doing one of these jobs when she grows up.
Why not, I grew up in the environment that taught me all honest jobs earn a living, all jobs are respectable. There are different skills but not highly or lowly; We are too easy to forget our forefathers came to Singapore as Ku Lis and many early immigrants from Asia to USA or Australia worked their way up from waiters, delivery men, etc. Now we might be seem better off than those FWs who take care our children, clean our toilets and building our homes and drive our bus and trains... but essentially, we are not Superior than any one of them.pirate:
I think we need to be careful when we say we have skilled workers who are willing to take up PMET jobs. There are many jobs that locals do not want to do or are unwilling to learn or acquire enough experience to do, that are strictly speaking not 'FW' jobs. At least, these are not jobs that us KSPs would want our children to do when they grow if we can help it. Examples include:
Nurses, mechanics, plumbers, electricians, welders, construction foremen, site clerks, cooks, heavy vehicle drivers, account clerks, frontline retail, service and hospitality staff, etc.
If we are honest about it. It's not the government's fault. It's our own fault. -
pirate:
Why not indeed? That's precisely the point I am making. And then we complain that the education system here is too stressful. But I would be lying if I said that I look forward to DD doing one of these jobs when she grows up.
Why not, I grew up in the environment that taught me all honest jobs earn a living, all jobs are respectable. There are different skills but not highly or lowly; We are too easy to forget our forefathers came to Singapore as Ku Lis and many early immigrants from Asia to USA or Australia worked their way up from waiters, delivery men, etc. Now we might be seem better off than those FWs who take care our children, clean our toilets and building our homes and drive our bus and trains... but essentially, we are not Superior than any one of them.ruohoo97:
[quote=\"pirate\"]
I think we need to be careful when we say we have skilled workers who are willing to take up PMET jobs. There are many jobs that locals do not want to do or are unwilling to learn or acquire enough experience to do, that are strictly speaking not 'FW' jobs. At least, these are not jobs that us KSPs would want our children to do when they grow if we can help it. Examples include:
Nurses, mechanics, plumbers, electricians, welders, construction foremen, site clerks, cooks, heavy vehicle drivers, account clerks, frontline retail, service and hospitality staff, etc.
If we are honest about it. It's not the government's fault. It's our own fault.[/quote]Yes, I totally agree with you on this! -
Dreamaurora:
The point of CPF is so that you are not destitute in old age, 10 years after you stopped working.
Isn't the purpose of CPF is to allow retirees to be self-sufficient and retirees errr...don't continue to work?3Boys:
But what if the majority withdraw their CPF and DON'T continue to work? -
pirate:
WeiHan:
Most parents want their children to become medical doctors or lawyers. if not , then a PSC scholarships is the best...More prestigious. But after getting the PSC scholarship, find that investment banking make more money, so break bonds.
And then the kids complain that lawyers, doctors and investment bankers have no work-life balance because their rich clients and patients are ridiculously demanding.
Whatever one craves, there is a cost. I don't mind if my boy decides to be a plumber one day if he finds it is the most productive thing to do for a living - esp. if there is a market shortage. It is an honest living. But he must still get a tertiary education. Education should not be about what he does for a living later on. Doesn't mean if he can be a plumber now, I will not push him to do well in his studies. Hence, I never like to give kids the idea that they must study hard now so next time can make more money. They are 2 different issues. JMHO.
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Several foreign firms prepare to leave S'pore
Labour tightening measures have hit them hard; letter conveys concerns to minister
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/premium/top-stories/several-foreign-firms-prepare-leave-spore-20130205
I'm sadden to learn that we are not that great after all, and our mere existence is depends very much on the big fish, which what matter most to them is in their own interest and will leave immediately when not enough small fish to feed them.
To them, business is just business and nothing personal.
It seem that all these years we are not growing to be a more sustainable nation, and in fact we become more and more rely on them to boost our economy.
Actually, what can we do?
We have no natural resources and our land is so small that very soon it will become a dense concrete jungle with only tiny green spots, known as park, scattering here and there. And when that happened, we will have no more construction industries to contribute to our economy.
Now, all I can hope for is that my children can grow up to be strong and independence, and more successful in life than me. -
WeiHan:
Working life-span matters too.
That is the point that I have been wondering about. Wouldn't decades of high economic growth allows most of our elders to have accumulate sufficient saving for their retirement? Why is there a need to say that 2 working adults are required to support 1 retired elders?
Adding to that, i believe nature goes through natural cycles. Economy will go through natural cycle of expansion and recession. Human artificial interventions to short circuit these natural cycles only kick the can further down the road and when the reckoning arrives, the backlash will be many times worse. This is best illustrated by the present money printing to kick the can down the road-an attempt to delay the unavoidable.
The same goes with population. I believe there is natural cycle. It goes through natural cycle of expansion, stagnation and even contraction base on complex response to macro environmental, economic and natural conditions. any attempt to short circuit this natural cycles only bring about greater backlash at a later date. By increasing population artificially, we are merely kicking the can down the road and someday down the road, the repercussion will show its ugly face.
Imagine, on average, an adult starts work at 25, and lives till 85.
In that 60 years span, can he say, I work 10 years, and live off savings for 50 years?
How about work 20 and retire for 40?
30/30?
40/20?
45/15?
50/10?
If you work for 40 years from age 25, you are 65 years old by the time you retire. If you work for 45 years, you will be 70.
Why would that be unreasonable? Can many of us say we will save enough in 40 years to survive on 20 years of no active income?
Who do we expect to pay our bills? -
concern2:
:grphug: applause. Would be nice to have more such ksps. To be honest, it is human for parents wish their children better than what they had been through, especially if they had gone through a hard time. But, think about, those generations who had gone through the hardship made today's Singapore. If more locals don't mind to do those jobs, then no need Foreign immigration (FT or FW) , then no need 6.9 millions .
Whatever one craves, there is a cost. I don't mind if my boy decides to be a plumber one day if he finds it is the most productive thing to do for a living - esp. if there is a market shortage. It is an honest living. But he must still get a tertiary education. Education should not be about what he does for a living later on. Doesn't mean if he can be a plumber now, I will not push him to do well in his studies. Hence, I never like to give kids the idea that they must study hard now so next time can make more money. They are 2 different issues. JMHO. -
ruohoo97:
Yes, agree that we are not Superior than any of them but in reality and in the current context, though i do not have the numbers to substantiate this claim, there are certain jobs that some Singaporeans will turn away....
Why not, I grew up in the environment that taught me all honest jobs earn a living, all jobs are respectable. There are different skills but not highly or lowly; We are too easy to forget our forefathers came to Singapore as Ku Lis and many early immigrants from Asia to USA or Australia worked their way up from waiters, delivery men, etc. Now we might be seem better off than those FWs who take care our children, clean our toilets and building our homes and drive our bus and trains... but essentially, we are not Superior than any one of them.pirate:
I think we need to be careful when we say we have skilled workers who are willing to take up PMET jobs. There are many jobs that locals do not want to do or are unwilling to learn or acquire enough experience to do, that are strictly speaking not 'FW' jobs. At least, these are not jobs that us KSPs would want our children to do when they grow if we can help it. Examples include:
Nurses, mechanics, plumbers, electricians, welders, construction foremen, site clerks, cooks, heavy vehicle drivers, account clerks, frontline retail, service and hospitality staff, etc.
:sad:
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