Singapore's grand job buffet is over as the city-state goes through a long economic slump, with government leaders urging pampered citizens to learn to live with less appealing choices on the table.
Singaporeans must shed the mindset acquired during the boom years before the 1997 to 1998 Asian financial crisis in which they shunned less glamorous jobs in hotel kitchens, dockyards and factories, the ministers said last week.
Once one of Asia's most robust economic tigers, tiny Singapore was a magnet for workers from its poorer neighbors willing to work the night shift and longer hours for relatively lower pay.
This afforded citizens to be picky about the jobs they took, with some citing such reasons as a long bus ride not to take up employment in an island where the longest travel to work will rarely take more than an hour.
But the labor landscape has changed drastically, and as more Singaporeans are thrown out of work, there is rising sentiment from the grassroots to blame foreigners for taking away jobs which should be going to local workers.
There are currently 85,000 people unemployed, or 4.9 percent of the workforce, and this could reach a record 8.5 percent if remedial measures to cut the cost of doing business here were not taken, Senior Minister Lee Kuan-yew said.
The government, walking a political tightrope, has rejected calls to restrict the entry of foreign workers, saying this would only damage the economy in the long run.
But officials have also called on Singaporeans to be less choosy about job prospects, lower their salary expectations and upgrade their skills to compete with foreign labour.
From 1993 to 1997 when economic growth was near 10 percent, about 100,000 jobs were created annually, official figures show.
"For these years, it was a grand `job buffet' as we created nearly three jobs for every Singaporean," Acting Manpower Minister Ng Eng-hen told parliament on Thursday.
"Singaporeans could pick and choose. They declined jobs in the construction, marine, domestic, cleaning, hotels and even manufacturing sectors," Ng said.
"Instead, they moved into the services industry where working conditions were more manag-eable," he said.
During this period, foreign workers took 60 percent of the almost 475,000 new jobs created, but few locals were complaining as job supply was plenty.
But from 1998 to last year, job conditions became more difficult as the economy reeled from the blows dealt by the financial crisis, the continuing terrorist threat, the Iraq war, the SARS outbreak and a downturn in global demand.
Only about 20,000 jobs were created annually.
"Instead of the luxurious spread, fewer and less appealing dishes were on the buffet table," Ng said.
Government statistics show foreigners account for about a quarter of Singapore's labor force.
About 200,000 jobs are held by work permit holders in the manufacturing and services sector, while there are 140,000 foreign maids and 150,000 construction workers.
"I encourage Singaporeans to take these jobs," Ng said, adding the government had been working with industries "to redesign jobs to help make them more suitable for Singaporeans."
Parliament on Friday passed legislation to establish a Workforce Development Agency aimed at promoting continuing education and training for local workers to keep pace with the rapid changes in the business environment.
The government plans to set aside S$5 billion (US$2.8 billion) for the continuing skills upgrading scheme.
MP Yeo Guat Kwang, in supporting the passage of the legislation, said the key word for local workers was mobility.
"In a tight labor market, an employee is seen to have greater power because he can move to another job and get better pay. In a downturn, power of the employee lies in his skills, his ability to perform," he said.
However locals fear the real message is simply lower wages.
Trade Minister George Yeo also told parliament that Singaporeans must be prepared for "painful" wage adjustments despite prospects for an economic recovery from next year.
Yeo said competition from low-wage nations in the region was increasing and Singaporeans could not afford the salary "premiums" they have long enjoyed.
"This Singapore premium is finite. Beyond a point, we are not worth the premium, and if our wages are too high, the investments will flow elsewhere instead," he said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique