The_King Posted June 16, 2020 Share Posted June 16, 2020 SINGAPORE -- From around 10 p.m. until the early hours of the morning, Aziz drives a private hire car through the streetlit hinterlands of Singapore. On weekdays, he shuttles from the airport to downtown condos and back; on weekends he patrols around Tanjong Pagar where the upscale bars kick out late, picking up drinkers, bar staff and other nocturnal tradespeople. On an average night, he can book upward of 150 Singaporean dollars ($111). His situation, he said, is "jialat." Jialat, a Singlish word taken from Hokkien, literally means "drained." In his early 50s, Aziz -- not his real name -- was retrenched from his job in a professional services company two years ago, and turned to the gig economy to make ends meet, joining hundreds of other former white-collar workers in a nocturnal demimonde of midrange saloons and weary discontent. "Cannot retire. Cannot take my [pension]," Aziz said. "As soon as they let me take it, I'll buy a house in Indonesia and retire there. If I stay here, what am I going to do?" Midlevel jobs in manufacturing and multinational companies are disappearing, and being replaced by technology and financial services roles, which are easier to fill with younger, more affordable migrants. Singaporeans like Aziz struggle to get back into the workforce. Only half of retrenched over-50s are reemployed full time within six months. Nearly three-quarters of people laid off in Singapore last quarter were what the country classifies as professionals, managers, executives and technicians, or PMETs. A quarter of a million people are in functional poverty. The bottom 20% of Singaporean households have an average monthly shortfall of S$335 between their incomes and outgoings, according to the government's latest economic survey. Living costs have risen. Water bills are up 30% since 2017; medical costs have increased 10% in just over five years, an acute problem in a population that is aging rapidly. Technological disruption is breaking the link between economic growth and earnings. Growth has slowed to its lowest level since the 2009 financial crisis tipped the island into recession. Singapore has long relied on migrant labor to drive economic growth. (Photo by Peter Guest) to read more click here: https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/The-Big-Story/Is-Singapore-s-perfect-economy-coming-apart 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
socrates469bc Posted June 16, 2020 Share Posted June 16, 2020 the rot started in 2004 when incompetent loong loong intro the casino economy model. i alrdy said back in 2004 that this casino economy model is unsustainable with numbers and reasoning but kumgong voters believe the pappy-never-wrong mantra. so no sympathy from me. wahahahhahahahha 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_King Posted June 16, 2020 Author Share Posted June 16, 2020 next gen, jin suay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ODACHEK Posted June 17, 2020 Share Posted June 17, 2020 14 hours ago, The_King said: next gen, jin suay Chiu mean next general jin xiasuay? 2 TVB for life... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaur4man Posted June 17, 2020 Share Posted June 17, 2020 And guys still have 2 yrs NS. How to protect country when can't even protect own ricebowl 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_King Posted June 17, 2020 Author Share Posted June 17, 2020 i nv regret giving minimum effort during my nsf time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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