In the hotel sector, front line jobs, service jobs, quite a lot of jobs are available so Singaporeans need to have the confidence so that they can obtain those jobs.
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Only Singaporeans willing to accept low pay, long hours, 6-days work week and short-term contracts without benefits need apply.
We have given you the jobs, don’t blame us if you are fussy and we end up hiring foreigners.
Don’t forget to lie about your academic achievements and work experience! Otherwise you may appear “not confident” enough for the employer to hire you.
Nonetheless a reminder for you: Singaporeans who lie about their qualifications to their employers is liable for deterrent sentences. However, foreign workers should be excused because they are unfamiliar with local laws and culture.
As the garments are unable to do much to help our economy during this recession time, all singaporeans who are going to be retrenched soon, whether you are in the junior, middle or senior management level, do worry too much as they are now encouraging you people to go for re-training and assure you that there are plenty of jobs out there for you, like kitchen cleaners, room maids, bell hops and mailing room staff, but unfortunately he didn’t mention the type of wages these jobs are paying you. So lets say if you last drawn salary is $3K then this new job would likely be paying you no more than $1K (which hardly be enough even to pay for your transportation and food) and for all the monthly utilities bills are your own funeral, not his! Kudos to all these elites who are paid millions by us and yet all they can do are cheap talks.
SAD.
Yes yes, there are still jobs opportunities out here…definitely…and thanks to their recommendation, retrench singaporeans should go for re-training and then look for job in sectors that requires the manpower.
but wait a moment, isn’t those job such as kitchen cleaners been taken up by foreign workers 2? ahh…nvm…it will revolve all over again
Got vacancy for Minister’s position or not?
Singaporean must stay competitive or risk being eliminated by nature selection. Therefore, I suggest all undergrad to take up part time taxi driving course, might come in handy in the future. Dip grad should look into cleaning sector, which is the next big thing after biotech and IT.
P.S. Foreign Talent have being shortlist for Ministerial post, Thank you for showing interest in position
I am disappointed at Tharma’s statement as he is one of my top few ministers who are seen to be ground-based and logical. It is a perfect example of talking down on his people again and calling them names (if you have enough confidence). Maybe he has being sucked into the group think mentality I guess. He could have said the following (if I am the Minister I will say this):
“Fellow Singaporeans, I know that there are many of you who are unemployed now. Fear not for we will try our best to take care of each unemployed. We know that the recession will be prolonged and many of you may be retrenched. This is really a grave time for Singapore but rest assured that we will try our best to take care of your needs. There are still many jobs available now – hospitality, security, service-related kind. Though the jobs might seem low end and the pay does not really attract, I encourage the jobless to apply for them as it is better to be working now than going unemployed. The recession will be deep and ugly by next year. Let us try to support each other and pull through this together!”
Maybe the govt should employe a good script writer for the ministers or get a HR expert to guide them on how to encourage the nation than always talking waywardly. For example – Lim Swee Say (upturn the downturn)), Dr Teo (thank us for the losses), PM Lee (no global recession).
Most of them are speaking as if the population is stupid and foolish. Moreover, they are seen as talking down at the people rather than with the people. Obama if you see always talk to and with his people. I hear his weekly speeches on Youtube and they are all inspirational and you felt lifted up after each speech. It is also persuasive and not always wanting to win an argument as seen from most of our PAP ministers’ speeches. They will decide on their stand and then try to win you over to their side.
Having worked in CDC before, I knew that most of the jobs on offer are hotel service/hospitality such as waiter/waitresses, cleaners (70%), hospital, security and maybe driver. They are also meant more for the blue collared or O level workers. I was also shocked that half of our monthly job referrals go to cleaners. I am not saying it is a shame to be a cleaner but surely we can go beyond that? Are the majority of CDC job seekers only ready to be cleaners? I brought this up to the CEO but sad to say this job category remained the top no 1 job referrals in CDCs till this day.
if you are a PMET (professional, manager, engineer, technician), it is tough for you to be assisted. There are some programmes however but given very minimal support. I have adovcated for some programmes to be started for PMETs while working there but faced quite alot of barriers. Maybe they are ill equipped to help PMETs or their focus is still on helping the vulnerable and uneducated which is of course easier. You can see that those jobs listed by Tharmar are definitely meant for non-PMETs.
The crisis affected PMETs alot now as basically the jobs lost are mostly from the banking and financial sector. Of course, the recession will hit all kinds of jobs soon. i am afriad the govt right now has nohting much going for PMETs.
The jobs Tharmar mentioned are also mostly carry a salary of between $1000-$1500 and surprisingly security jobs pay the most from the lot – between $1300-$1600 due to the long working hours (12 hours per shift). Now, tell me, if you are earning at least $3K will you go for such jobs? In fact, those jobs listed tend to attract alot of foreigners as they do not mind the shift work, low pay ($1000-$1500) and service-related in nature. Employers will then accuse Singaporeans of being choosy and hard to please.
I like TKL’s advocation for a minimum wage and this should be what we are looking at in the future. The govt has all along advised against it for fear that many companies will pack up and go as we may be seen too expensive to employ.
In fact, we can lower our CPF abit more with the govt topping up some in our pension when we retire. This can be drawn from the huge surplus of $350 billion in our reserves. Instead of gambling them away with GIC/Temasek, they should set aside a small portion for such injection.
The CPF reduction can then be given to us in the form of a minimum wage top up.
Unless we have new measures introduced for the future, SIngaporeans will continue to see that their wages will stagnant or even go lower as copared to inflation. This is already happening for the past few years.
good one.Gilbert!
But the reality is such…THEY ARE THE THEY and we are the people…groundbased and logical?
As long as they are paid like hollywood superstars…the rest of us are just mortals.
If you look at the salary data from the Annual Wage Reports (from the National Wage Council) from 1996 to 2006, salary in this line of work has pretty much stagnant since 1996.
Maybe the govt should employe a good script writer for the ministers or get a HR expert to guide them on how to encourage the nation than always talking waywardly. – Gilbert Goh (#8)
It is not our role to help PAP to be better. We want a better Singapore, but not a better PAP. Singapore has to move beyond PAP.
For once i’d like to hear them talk about concrete plans to help the citizens, and not dismiss things as if they have done their parts, even if it’s lip service. At least it’s pleasing rather than anger-instilling.
Has it been considered to lower public sector payroll expense by hiring cheaper foreign talents?
why not?
think out-of-the-box?
lateral thinking?
1st world thinking?
What is your solution to solve this problem, tharman ?
They keep on holding onto and protecting their $billions golden vault rather than supposed to come out now with all sorts of immediate helps to the citizens when the nation is already facing hardtime into this bad reccession period. Instead, they keep repeating all these lame excuses. And where are your priority now as our appointed leaders? To continue guarding your golden vault and make sure you have enough for your next salary increaments or to start springing up now to help the people of singapore?
After so many years of economic growth in Singapore we produced these type of lowly paid jobs, for around $400 to $1,000 plus?
A new HDB flat can cost $600,000 plus.
Our GDP per capital is nearly $50,000/year.
Like I said before, in Singapore, we strive to have the lowest paid wages in the world and the reason for this is “if not companies will pack up and leave.”. Sooner or later, our wages will be in terms of potatoes (sweet/normal) and bags of rice………
17) Mr Tan on December 14th, 2008 5.07 pm
Like I said before, in Singapore, we strive to have the lowest paid wages in the world and the reason for this is “if not companies will pack up and leave.”. Sooner or later, our wages will be in terms of potatoes (sweet/normal) and bags of rice………
“Lowest paid wages” and what about our elites garment? they are the highest paid in the entire world! any logic here?
Aiyah, what you expect him to say? Doesn’t mean million $ minister pay will make him able to create better jobs for you folks what, right?
You should know these ministar’s style by now. Get used to it lah, what to do.
yeah right
might as well
dropped a hint that shamuggam is your long lost cousin
kaninia
when i was retrenched and umployed for 4 months
every interviews i attend
same ole story
you are too old
your previous salary is too high for us to employ you
(when i was just getting only $1200/month?)
can you start @ the entry level @ $700?
nabei
i am far worst than a bangala sweeper
$700/month
eat what?
not even enough to buy 3 meals
and the daily $5 transport fares
cheebei
now you know
why all this ministers demand over $100,000/month
MR David, you are absolutely right, everyone else is race to the bottom in wages, however, this does not apply to our elite garmen and their cronies…….
Cut the HDB prices, conservancy charges, transport fares, utility hikes and I’m sure more Singaporeans will take on these jobs.
But then again elites only can push the blame to the people and not ask themselves why Singaporeans cannot survive with these underpaid jobs.
Yes, I must be confident in order to compete with foreign talent.
They have the power to adjust their own salaries to exorbitant levels to their own liking. I’m astonished. Let’s say you’re gettin’ $2k a month in your job. You adjusted it to $20k a month, just ‘cos you want it that way. Wow. That’s pretty neat!
Damn, that’s downright immoral! You simply don’t get exorbitant paychecks while the rest of the nation is dying! My dad bought a 3-room HDB flat for around $10+k in 1980. He earned around $800/mth back then. Now, after new benchmarked rates, a 3-room flat costs around $200+k. That’s 20 times the cost of a flat in 1980. Now, is the majority of us gettin’ 20 times the salary my dad was gettin’ back then? & my dad’s salary was considered meager even back then. That makes us even poorer now!
pugdragon,
You are right!! We are all now worse off compared to before.
The PAP has failed most Singaporeans!! Except for the ministers, our purchasing power has been severely eroded.
On the contrary the ministers’ purchasing power have increased many times. Don’t talk about 3 room flat. Even for bungalow, their purchasing power also has been increased compared to before.
The longer I work, the poorer I feel; not just financially but also in heart, mind, body and soul.
I do not wish for my kids to have the same life I am leading currently, that is why I have not had any yet.
To Gilbert at no. 8 comment,
If you expect too much from Tharman, you’ll be disappointed.
He is the one who said that there is no crisis around mid 2008.
There is recent talk that jobs in the healthcare sector is aplenty.
Let me put it straight to you. Before you can even dream of getting the job, you have to be trained for it. You will have to make the necessary investment to be a trained therapist, radiographer etc. Time and money is essential. And while you do this, your family will have to live on fresh air and water untill you pass your exams and try your luck at these jobs.
If you are looking at lower end jobs like attendants and porters, you will most likely be employed on either temporary or contract basis. This means that you will not get to enjoy benefits like health subsidy, leave and medical leave entitlements. In short no work, no pay.
Some may argue that beggers can’t be choosers but then again whose failure resulted in these poor folks becoming beggers while the ones who failed them contemplate their own wage hikes?
They created the problem, you get the scolding and they get the pay increments. What a handsome equation.
What jobs? For foreigners? In S’pore, it’s foreigners first and S’poreans last, well, maybe S’poreans out.
29) gemami on December 15th, 2008 11.45 am
They created the problem, you get the scolding and they get the pay increments. What a handsome equation.
WAKE UP SINGAPOREANS!!! YOU PEOPLE HAS BEEN PLAYED THROUGH AND THROUGH BY THESE GREEDY AND HEARTLESS ELITES. THEYARE THE ONES THAT CREATED ALL THESE PROBLEMS FOR US TO FACE, THEY ARE THE ONES WHO REFUSED TO ADMIT THEIR WRONGDOINGS, THEY ARE THE ONES WHO WILL BE CREATING THE SAME SETS OF PROBLEMS TO YOUR CHILDRENS WHILE THEY CONTINUE TO PAY THEMSELVES THOSE INCREASING MILLIONS TO COME. DO YOU STILL BELIEVE IN THEM?
Now who was it who said jobs were aplenty in the healthcare sector? How come Parkway Healthgroup is retrenching?