The Singapore government is losing support from this group of
citizen as many are squeezed by being in the middle class.
Sat, May 5,
2012
Singapore's P-MET (pronounced Pee-met) - the acronym for
Professionals, Managers, Executives and Technicians, a flourishing
group of people who make up 51 per cent of the workforce - is under
stress.
Most are, of course, university graduates or diploma holders,
whose numbers and role in society had steadily increased because of
strong growth and people's determination to get higher
education.
In turn, it helped to shape Singapore into what it is - a rich,
middle-class society.
The first blow was struck by the demise of the industrial era
here as well as the emergence of competitive giants like China and
India that pushed down wages everywhere.
Factories were closed or moved overseas and mass retrenchments
followed, including executives and managers.
A series of downturns and recessions added to the toll. In 2008,
for example, 43.3 per cent of retrenched Singaporeans were from
this group.
A new shadow now looms. This is the arrival of a small army of
hungrier foreign P-METs who are always ready to accept lower
wages.
Singapore is a middle class city. An estimated 70 per cent of
citizens consider themselves middle class rather than working
class.
The influx of one million workers in the past 10 years included
many poorer paid P-METs from India and the Philippines. Many ended
up in finance, computer and multinational corporations, some of
them easing out locals.
The arrivals are a mixed bag. The majority comprises lower-paid
workers, but also includes many extremely rich settlers.
The demographic infusion is continuing but the government,
responding to public pressure, has recently reduced the number of
approvals given out.
It has eroded bit by bit the Singapore middle-class, already hit
by economic changes.
Another effect of globalisation is the monthly departure of
1,000 Singaporeans to settle abroad for better opportunities and a
more relaxed lifestyle.
In the past 10 years, 97,990 Singaporeans (excluding small
children), had left, the government said. Many are young and
well-educated professionals.
The erosion of the middle class was first noticed three years
ago in Japan, and to a lesser extent in Hong Kong and Taiwan before
arriving here.
It was enunciated as the M-shaped society by Japanese strategist
Kenichi Ohmae, who noticed that among middle-class workers in Japan
only a "very few" made it to the rich, while a greater number
actually sank to the lower classes.
For some middle-class Singaporeans, this sounds uncomfortably
familiar.
The gap between rich and poor in Singapore is the second widest
in the world, and the government has promised utmost efforts to put
it right.
For the government any weakening of the middle class is bad
news.
Who forms the middle class?
There is no universally accepted definition, but Singaporeans
generally base it on earnings. People who earn S$4,000-S$7,000
(RM9,800-RM17,200) are considered middle and upper middle
classes.
Former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew once said that any political
party that wanted to win power in Singapore must win the middle
class.
The mass arrival of foreign professionals into the marketplace
is causing the government dearly in public support - as shown in
last year's general election.
Former Director of Internal Security Department (1971-74) Yoong
Siew Wah wrote that "Singapore has 30,000 P-METs who have been
unemployed for quite a long time, and we now have Chinese and
Indian immigrants competing ... for the limited employment
opportunities".
What do the unemployed P-METs do? Many work as taxi drivers,
property agents, insurance agents, financial advisers, remisiers,
or tuition teachers, said a surfer.
In recent years, the Lee Hsien Loong government responded to the
furore by cutting down the number of foreign PRs and raising the
pay ceiling for foreign professionals.
He also pledged priority efforts to narrow the income gap
between rich and poor.
Commentator Patrick Loh said: "If you look around, Singaporeans
have lost many middle management and higher management jobs to
foreigners for the past decade.
"They are still losing these to them. The painful part is losing
these jobs to lesser qualified candidates, just because they appear
to fit the role better with a cheaper pay package," he added.
There is another compelling reason why the People's Action party
(PAP) wants to keep educated youths employed.
Former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew told accompanying journalists
to India years ago that his government would want to avoid his
host's plight. Their universities were churning out too many
unemployed graduates.
Recollecting from memory, I gather his rationale being: These
unemployed graduates have the knowledge and free time to plan
revolutions. They would hang around in coffee shops and talk
politics, and soon a revolution brews.
Recently, an Education Ministry official was reported to have
told a US diplomat (source: Wikileaks) that Singapore did not plan
to encourage more students to study in university, and the campus
enrolment rate would stay at 20 per cent-25 per cent.
I wonder, if this is true, is it connected to concerns about the
possibility of unmanageable unemployment among graduates here?