PAP has turned Singapore into a land of foreigners

last SG · 2006-05-04T15:54:57+00:00

I do ehard the govt actually gave scholars to foreign students.

oxford mushroom SG

Originally posted by Atobe:

Are you for real, or simply "shooting off blanks" for the sake of a debate ?

Have you seriously given some sensible consideration of your expectation for someone - having been [b]retrenched at the age of mid-to-late 40s, or even early 50s - to go back to the university, to switch from a MBa to a basic BSc Degree ?
[/b]

Time to wake up and see how the world has changed. Workers in developing countries are catching up fast and Singapore is too closely plugged into the global economy to use protectionism as a means of shielding ourselves from global competition. In any case, it will not work...we are too small. Singapore needs the world more than the world needs us..

Nobody owes us a living. If a foreigner can do your job better and more cheaply, you will lose your job..period. As forumner vito_corleone puts it (in an honest but rather cruel way):

"in a capitalist economy, the job goes to the best man. if you can't swallow this fact then you'd probably like to move to africa to hunt lions and the lot."

Upgrading your skills or switching to a new job is tough for everyone. But if you cannot adapt to a changing world, then you will end up the way of the dodo. Don't expect the world to slow down for you. If we cannot or refuse to adapt to changing times and progress, we deserve to be fossilized.

If you cannot imagine switching from your MBA to a BSc at 40, then consider switching from your managerial job to being a baker with lower pay. It is better than being jobless.

oxford mushroom SG

Prior to the Industrial Revolution, Britain's economy was heavily reliant on wool and the textile industry. As its empire expanded and its colonies provided a cheaper source of textile with cotton from India and cheap labour to run its mills, British textile workers lost their jobs and moved on to mining, steel making and heavy industries. As the developing world moved into heavy industries and now make better and cheaper cars, we see British car makers lose their jobs as companies like Rover and now Peugeot close their factories. Britain now makes its money from its service sector, with London being the largest finance centre in the world.

Throughout its history, British workers have lost their jobs to cheaper foreign competitors but have successfully moved up the economic food chain. Singapore has to do the same. We cannot be reliant on our IT and traditional manufacturing industries when Indian and China can do these better and cheaper. We have to make high value electronics and pharmaceuticals that they cannot (at the moment). What about the MBA holder who is more comfortable in the commercial world? You cannot expect to hold that managerial job when operations have been downsized due to outsourcing. But if you can become a successful fund manager, you salary will increase, not drop.

If we try to protect our feeding ground from hoards of other ikan bilis, we will ultimately fail. The solution is that we must become bigger and go for higher value prizes. We cannot expect the government to help us find our worms as ikan bilis. We have to be larger fishes that feed on the new ikan bilis that have arrived.

China and India will take our lower skilled jobs, but as they progress they will demand higher value goods. Their population will demand better drugs, better electronics that they lack...so there will be an outlet for our pharmaceuticals and products of our nanotechnology industries. We will become the bigger fish that feed on the ikan bilis.

We now see our lower skilled jobs threatened by foreigners who can do them at a lower price. If you refuse to become bigger and upgrade your skills, because you are already 40, then the future will be dismal for you indeed. Do you expect a 40-year-old ikan bilis to be able to compete for the same worm as a 20-year-old new arrival? Especially when there are hoardes of them?

Grow up and move up the food chain. Be big or be eaten.

Atobe SG

Originally posted by oxford mushroom:

If you cannot imagine switching from your MBA to a BSc at 40, then consider switching from your managerial job to being a baker with lower pay. It is better than being jobless.

At least this part of your idealistic talk makes more practical sense for an MBA.

However, does switching from managerial job to being a baker necessarily be at a lower pay ?

Your statement hint of a sense of disdain towards the Commercial World of an MBA - ( especially a Baker, in favor of your World of BioTECH and Medical Science ) - or is your attitude due to your limited appreciation of an MBA ability that is reflected in your narrow awareness of how to be plugged to a Globalised World ?

If you believe in the capacity of the Globalised World and the free movement of skills, talent and labor - surely the enterprising spirit of an MBA holder will bring his new found baking skills to a Globalised Market, capitalising on his knowledge of finance, low cost centers, and market positions.

The world of BioTECH and HIGH TECH is a catch-phrase that is relevant for a passing phase - lasting a decade or so; to be replaced soon after by some other newer catch-phrase trend setter for the next decade.

Traditional skill need not necessarily fade away, but can be profitably tweaked and made more efficient and cost-effective for a new age.

The problem with those who believed themselves to be highly educated is that so much knowledge is crammed into the individual brain, it produces a bloated confidence on too many issues, but remains with too little training in discerning skills.

This has been the problem of our Leadership in assuming their exclusive monopoly of superior knowledge, which are supposedly discerned from a monopoly of superior talents.

Atobe SG

While your facts are based on historical information, in a fast paced globalised world dictated by politics, nothing remains the same.

Why has Audi announced a planned "expenditure of US$384 Million to expand its aging Ingolstadt plant to build the new Q5 sport utility vehicle" ?

This was reported in Newsweek 12 June 2006 Edition Page 6, which at the same time also mentioned that "Toyota has also increased production at home at a rate that is twice as fast as that of April, inspite of a 32 straight months of rising car production in low-cost regions of SE Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe".

Honda was also reported in Newsweek to be building a new assemly plant in Japan.

These new developments in the auto industry have contradicted your stated historical factors governing globalisation; as those factors are made irrelevant by the ruthlessly unpredictable and continuous increase in fuel prices, which no longer make it economical to ship large volume of components across global supply chains.

Throughout its history, British workers have lost their jobs to cheaper foreign competitors but have successfully moved up the economic food chain. Singapore has to do the same. We cannot be reliant on our IT and traditional manufacturing industries when Indian and China can do these better and cheaper. We have to make high value electronics and pharmaceuticals that they cannot (at the moment). What about the MBA holder who is more comfortable in the commercial world? You cannot expect to hold that managerial job when operations have been downsized due to outsourcing. But if you can become a successful fund manager, you salary will increase, not drop.

Monkey see, monkey do. Different monkeys will learn tricks at different pace, but in the end some monkey somewhere will do it better and faster before we even reach breakeven point due to some reason or other - (economies of scale for a start).

What value is there left if all the monkeys perform the same tricks - be a better and smarter monkey to perform a more specialised trick ?

The "golden peanut" may soon spell more trouble than it was worth mentioning in the first place.

We have to be smarter than simply to beat the lowest cost center, and learn from the Swiss who beat the cheap Casio with a high end SWATCH, and continue to extend their monopoly and reputation with higher end collectors' watches.

Must we always try to outrun other monkeys based on a limited scope of tricks and fear the competition from the low cost centers ?

As what the Owner of Las Vegas Sands had so intelligently put it - what maybe the flavor of the month in 2006, may not necessarily be the flavor of the month in two or three years time.

We need to be alert and attune to the changes in the market place, find niche areas, and capitalise with what we have at present so as to better compete with the World.

If we try to protect our feeding ground from hoards of other ikan bilis, we will ultimately fail. The solution is that we must become bigger and go for higher value prizes. We cannot expect the government to help us find our worms as ikan bilis. We have to be larger fishes that feed on the new ikan bilis that have arrived.

Can the 'Ikan Bilis" grow into bigger fishes by finding their own worms, when all the worms are supposedly hoarded and controlled by a BIGGER WHALE ?

Firstly, if we are the Ikan Bilis must have a safe and protected feeding grounds, that will be opened to those who will open their feeding grounds to us; so that all will simultaneously grow together in size and weight.

At the moment, it will seem that while we open our feeding grounds to others, their feeding grounds are closed to us, and some opened with restrictive terms and conditions.

China and India will take our lower skilled jobs, but as they progress they will demand higher value goods. Their population will demand better drugs, better electronics that they lack...so there will be an outlet for our pharmaceuticals and products of our nanotechnology industries. We will become the bigger fish that feed on the ikan bilis.

In a Globalised World, such advantage can only be shortlived when there are multiple global points of execellence.

The rat race demand that the pace be quicken at each higher level, or find the formula to work smarter to produce the best at the lowest cost.

Size may not necessarily be the sole criteria, as at times the 'Ikan Bilis' can be more flexible than a 'Big Fish' which requires regular and constant down sizing exercise.

We now see our lower skilled jobs threatened by foreigners who can do them at a lower price. If you refuse to become bigger and upgrade your skills, because you are already 40, then the future will be dismal for you indeed. Do you expect a 40-year-old ikan bilis to be able to compete for the same worm as a 20-year-old new arrival? Especially when there are hoardes of them?

Grow up and move up the food chain. Be big or be eaten.

Your call seems to be the often sung and tired refrain that does not seem to reveal any further creative inspiration in thought, other then mere words of exhortation from the leaders of some Animal Farm.

Let us be more realistic about this sloganic call for "Upgrading and Up Sizing" - both of which have to be relevant to our background.

Can we UP SIZE with our limited population and physical size ?

Ironically, the present call is literally to downsize to achieve lower costs.

It is not a matter of refusing to upgrade one's skill at the age of 40 PLUS - but a matter of how one can tap a person's experience, skill and talent to allow that person the shortest learning curve.

Should we count a Bank Manager's - or Doctor's - past experience to be irrelevant, and dump all his past training and accumulated experience to have him learn an entirely new trade ?

Why do we insist on these specialists aborting their rich past, and start Life in a fresh shell ?

If these experienced individual have no financial strength nor organisation contacts, why do we leave individuals to their own ends ?

Instead of making useless calls and recriminations, why could we not set up a national organisation to absorb all such talents, and deploy them into our neighboring Third World Countries to advance their society ?

This can help our retrenched professionals to regain their self-worth, expose them into new territories and new opportunities, advance our own National Prestige and diplomacy, and nurture new business opportunities for all sides.

SnowFlag SG

I always find myself needing to guide the higher qualified FTs. Sad

I think if there are good, they wouldn't be working here Rolling Eyes

hairymonster83 SG

hahahahahahahaha...... man u are soo funny lah!!!!!!

hahahahahhaha Very Happy Laughing Mr. Green

oxford mushroom SG

Atobe, if you prefer to bury your head in the sand and spend your days lamenting about the good old days, that's your prerogative. There is no point in arguing this issue since you have clearly closed your mind to global trends.

We will soon see who is right. Keep complaining when you and your children lose their jobs....it will not take long for that to happen..

Atobe SG

Sad to have let the air out of your scheme of things, but if I had my head buried in the sand and spend my days lamenting - about good old days or otherwise, would I have seen the Swiss Swatch counter move to the Japanese Casio ?

With my head buried, how would I have learnt of Audi's audacious plans in bucking the trend by returning to their own supposed High Cost Centre of Production in Germany - as well as the grand expansion plans of Toyota and Honda returning to their home ground ?

There is nothing to lament to our present circumstance, what comes around will go around, with or without governmental intervention.

The Singapore government has always been quick to blame external factors that affect Singapore's economy to which they are hopelessly unable to control. Yet by some miralce, they will claim that it is their earthly powers that guide Singapore to recover - as if rain is their creation after a severe drought.

Will there ever be right or wrong in our views ?

After 30 years, a good doctor can always change his career in medicine and be a good salesman - selling insurance or pharmaceutical products.

After 30 years, can a car salesman ever change career and be as good a doctor as the one who became a Salesman ?

Upgrading of one's skill can only happen by progression, and within the limits of the person's existing experience, training, education and age.

Why should one be pessimistic about losing one's job ?

I have discovered that every event in Life opens the door to another opportunity, and every step of my career has seen changes that have always brought me greater satisfaction as new challenges are surmounted.

reyes SG

i dont hate FT but i dont agree with the FT singapore govt is adopting. look what kind of FT are we bringing into singapore?? we need to to stricter.

oxford mushroom SG

Originally posted by Atobe:

I have discovered that [b]every event in Life opens the door to another opportunity, and every step of my career has seen changes that have always brought me greater satisfaction as new challenges are surmounted.

[/b]

That is a good attitude to adopt indeed. I trust you are sufficiently flexible to accept new jobs, new challenges and people like you do not have to worry about losing your job. I agree there are new opportunities as there are now, even whilst old jobs are being lost.

My frustration is with the worker who will not take a new job because he has to be posted to China, do shift duties, pick up computer skills or accept a lower pay.

Companies in Europe rely heavily on government subsidies to remain competitive, something we cannot afford in Singapore. Tony Blair was prepared to offer millions of pounds to Rover if their Chinese owners would keep car manufacturing in the UK. In the long run, that will not succeed. If Japanese car companies are able to keep their jobs in Japan, that's because their productivity far exceeds their competitors in cheaper economies.

You yourself have said that healthcare costs in Singapore can be lowered because we are located in the midst of cheaper economies. Without spelling it out, you are suggesting that we hire doctors and nurses from India and China to keep our healthcare costs down. (That is being done currently and you are more likely to see a doctor from India in some clinics).

If that is true of the highly technical healthcare sector, why shouldn't jobs in less skill-intensive sectors be outsourced to cheaper economies as well? Unless and until our workers have higher skills, higher productivity and manufacture higher value goods, we will continue to lose these jobs to foreigners.

It's not all bad if foreigners take over the low-pay jobs we don't want. My concern is that the high-paying new jobs that have been created in the biotech sector are going to foreigners as well, because we don't have sufficient locals with the right skills to fill them. So we are squeezed on both sides, with foreigners taking our high-pay and low-pay jobs as well.

I don't think it is fair to blame the government for this. It is correct to create high-pay jobs in new industries. We have to ask why our citizens are not acquiring the right skills to fill these jobs.

Why is media studies so popular with young people when there are jobs in technical disciplines like biotech and nanotechnology? Why are people doing MBAs and hoping to be managers of people instead of being highly-paid fund managers? London gave out annual bonuses of 1 million pounds each to their top fund managers last Christmas. Why are there so few of such persons in Singapore?

Margaret Thatcher was hated by the mine workers in Yorkshire when she re-structured the economy and closed down poor-performing national companies. Years later, even her critics have to admit she was right. It was terribly painful and many mine workers were driven to suicide when they lost their jobs in their 40s and 50s. But it was good for the nation.

Do I expect our workers who have lost their jobs like these miners to pick up new skills and go into a new industry? Of course I do. If they can pick up a skill in the high-pay technical industries, then they will have a better-paying job. If not, they will have to take a pay cut, work overseas, or accept less favourable working conditions such as shift work.

oxford mushroom SG

I have the same grouse myself many times in the past. Many of the FTs have only mediocre skills. So why do we employ them?

Isn't it because these foreigners are willing to work longer hours for lower pay, do shift work and accept poorer working conditions? Employers are not daft. They have to employ these lowly-skilled foreigners because locals will not take the jobs on offer.

There is an additional advantage with foreigners. Because some of them come at half the price of a local worker, you can hire 10 of them when you only need 5. Test them out. Tell them at the end of the year, you will retain the best 5 and send the remaining 5 back to their own country. You will have all of them working their butts out to impress you and you will know that at the end of it, you have the best of the crop. You can do that every year, hiring another 5 and sending 5 back each time. For low-skill jobs that do not require much training, that is a model that has been used.

That's why I think that locals must move up the food chain with skill upgrading. Employers will hire locals if it becomes necessary to spend half a year training a new foreign worker. If newly arrived foreigners have already acquired the skill for the job, it's time for you to move up the food chain or become redundant.

Atobe SG

Companies in Europe rely heavily on government subsidies to remain competitive, something we cannot afford in Singapore. Tony Blair was prepared to offer millions of pounds to Rover if their Chinese owners would keep car manufacturing in the UK. In the long run, that will not succeed. If Japanese car companies are able to keep their jobs in Japan, that's because their productivity far exceeds their competitors in cheaper economies.

You yourself have said that healthcare costs in Singapore can be lowered because we are located in the midst of cheaper economies. Without spelling it out, you are suggesting that we hire doctors and nurses from India and China to keep our healthcare costs down. (That is being done currently and you are more likely to see a doctor from India in some clinics).

"Without {my} spelling it out" - you have interpreted in your preferred manner of hiring cheap labor.

Besides your 'healthy' penchant in capitalising on low wages of professionals from our immediate Third World neighbors, our health care costs can be lowered by the low costs of production of medicines in the surrounding countries, with local natural resources that can be researched with our capital and knowledge input.

While we participate in a mad rush to be the leading centre in BioTECH research in exotic cures, have we forgotten the other aspects of researches that will bear immediate benefits to Singaporeans - and in areas where our TCM can also contribute ?
[quote]
If that is true of the highly technical healthcare sector, why shouldn't jobs in less skill-intensive sectors be outsourced to cheaper economies as well? Unless and until our workers have higher skills, higher productivity and manufacture higher value goods, we will continue to lose these jobs to foreigners.

It's not all bad if foreigners take over the low-pay jobs we don't want. My concern is that the high-paying new jobs that have been created in the biotech sector are going to foreigners as well, because we don't have sufficient locals with the right skills to fill them. So we are squeezed on both sides, with foreigners taking our high-pay and low-pay jobs as well. You seem to have grasp the basic issues but then let it slip away.

If Singaporeans have been reputed to be poor in productivity in the OLD INDUSTRIES, is it of any use to move up further to the NEW HIGH TECH industries ?

Can Singapore continue to depend entirely on FIRST LINE Capital Intensive Industries such as shipyards, power and water generating, and NEW BioTECH industries ?

Can we afford to lose our less skill-intensive sectors by outsourcing to cheaper economies as well ?

Or should we increase the productivity of these less skill-intensive sectors by increasing productivity through automation ?

I was surprised to watch a Discovery Channel programme featuring Faber-Castell still existing in the manufacturing of the 'ancient and trusted' graphite lead pencils, and color pencils in a highly automated plant in Germany.

Was it a bigger surprise to learn that it has been able to hold its market share, and maintain profitability despite the intense competition from low cost manufacturing centres for such simple products that are coming out of China, Korea, Taiwan, and some other local companies.

A small enterprise in a low end business named Faber-Castell alongside bigger German names such as SIEMENS, AEG, Mercedes-Benz, MTU, MAN, BMW, Lufthansa - and in a high wage country.

Atobe SG

continuation:

I don't think it is fair to blame the government for this. It is correct to create high-pay jobs in new industries. We have to ask why our citizens are not acquiring the right skills to fill these jobs.

Why is media studies so popular with young people when there are jobs in technical disciplines like biotech and nanotechnology? Why are people doing MBAs and hoping to be managers of people instead of being highly-paid fund managers? London gave out annual bonuses of 1 million pounds each to their top fund managers last Christmas. Why are there so few of such persons in Singapore?

If the government had 47 years to mould social attitudes - should we blame ourselves for a crutch mentality that is very much due to a 'Nanny State' environment ?

How many in a cohort of A-Level Students meet the criteria to enter the Medical Faculty ?

Is it possible that with our existing education system, can a larger percentage enter the Medical Faculty in the NUS ?

How many in the Medical Faculty will end up as General Practitioners, instead of specialising in some other higher paying and challenging research fields ?

How many Fund Managers can there be, when the occupation is unheard of in Singapore, who even dare to aspire to be a World Financial Centre without any expertise in this area ?

Is Singaporeans to be blamed for this, when one's destiny is not even in the hands of our parents while each of us are subjected to educational streaming at a tender age ?

Why do smokers continue with their deadly habit despite the known risks ?

Why do gamblers insist on betting their life despite the odds stacked against themselves ?

Can anyone have any sane explanations for seemingly insane decisions ?

Margaret Thatcher was hated by the mine workers in Yorkshire when she re-structured the economy and closed down poor-performing national companies. Years later, even her critics have to admit she was right. It was terribly painful and many mine workers were driven to suicide when they lost their jobs in their 40s and 50s. But it was good for the nation.

Margaret Thatcher was correct - only for the fact that her union busting actions had helped to turn the country around, at a time when the unions were holding the entire country hostage to their unreasonable demands.

Was it good for the nation ?

This was questioned in a research paper - "Re-Training in the Post-Industrial Era: A Comparison of Government Policy Responses to Widespread Worker Displacement in Canada and Britain" - in which it was stated:

The decline of manufacturing, resource extraction and heavy industries, the rise of service and technology based industries and the advent of the "new", "knowledge" economy have changed the nature of work.

Vickerstaff (1992) suggests we will no longer have the same job for the duration of our working life. "The emphasis then will be on re-training, flexibility, multi-skilling, the ability to adapt to new technologies, new work processes and new products."

"Technological improvements result in faster and easier communication and information exchange at the same time as the economic base shifts from manufacturing and goods production to service industries and the new economy."

"All of this is accompanied by ideological shifts emphasizing investment, trade liberalization, deregulation and private enterprise."

"The influence of de-industrialization, globalization and the changing nature of work have resulted in ideological, political and economic shifts at a broad level that have been beneficial for those in a position to take advantage of these changes. For others, however, these processes have meant economic marginalization, growing income disparities and long-term unemployment ."

"Education and traing are often seen as the solution to many current social and economic problems. There is an underlying assumption in both theory and practise that a region with educated and trained people will attract new investment, that this new investment will create jobs and that both will lead to economic development."

"Unemployed individuals with existing and transferable skills amay benefit from the kinds of skill-upgrading and job search assistance schemes traditionally offered through government programs."

"The ILO World Labour Report 'Learning to Start Afresh - The Challenge of Re-Training', states, 'Retraining is not a panacea for the problems of structural adjustment." Just as education is seen as a panacea for social problems, so re-training is seen as a panacea for structural adjustment problems. In both instances, it is not enough."

This study was commissioned to study the effects of government policies in Canada and UK, with both countries having experienced structural changes to their traditional employment sectors; some of the conclusions are applicable to our discussion; and I believe you will change your high expectations and realised that Government has a bigger responsibility than the low end workers.

Do I expect our workers who have lost their jobs like these miners to pick up new skills and go into a new industry? Of course I do. If they can pick up a skill in the high-pay technical industries, then they will have a better-paying job. If not, they will have to take a pay cut, work overseas, or accept less favourable working conditions such as shift work.

Are you being a 'wee bit' ambitious and idealistic ?

Idealism (is like alcohol) and realism (like water), it takes skill to select the right type and the right proportion mix to make a good drink.

Unfortunately, no matter how good the drink, the alcohol (idealism) will evaporate, leaving only the water (realism) content to pass through the body and exit as waste.

What is the minimum qualification of a UK Coal Miner, or the average Singaporean Assembly Line Worker ?

Does that minimum qualification allow these low end workers to upgrade to the next higher level of ability ?

What kind of better paying job for the Singaporean Assembly Line worker ?

pearlie27 SG

It was reported in veteran journalist, Seah Chiang Nee's article, "Creating more space" dated Jun 4, 2006 that

'The projected six to seven million population by 2030 would require possibly two or three naturalised citizens for every one Singaporean born here.'

i have no problem with the naturalised citizens but just wonder why our boys have to go through 2yrs of NS to defend others who need not serve NS?

Dogtor SG

Originally posted by pearlie27:
It was reported in veteran journalist, Seah Chiang Nee's article, "Creating more space" dated Jun 4, 2006 that

'The projected six to seven million population by 2030 would require possibly two or three naturalised citizens for every one Singaporean born here.'

i have no problem with the naturalised citizens but just wonder why our boys have to go through 2yrs of NS to defend others who need not serve NS?

Please don't park your ass in my face ... ...

This country ain't big enough for the 7 million of us ... ... I quit

Persons born on odd days ride the MRT on Mon, Wed, and Fri. MRT closed on Sundays for major overhauls ... ...

This is the last-standing tree in Singapore's Buikit Timah "forest" reserve ... ... it is reserved to show children what a tree looks like.

I am thirsty ... ... got to go pee to make more NEWATER ...

OK kids finish up ... ... the other family's turn to use the apartment ...

You mean the elevator broke down again ... ...

Everyone breathe through one nostril to save oxygen ... ...

Great ... ... it's public holiday, now at least Istana grounds can serve as a waiting area for Ponderosa ...

You mean Singapore is a "COUNTRY" ?!?....

Flight 275 to Tokyo will depart from RSN Changi flight deck 3. Passengers are reminded not to inflate their vests until they are in the water during an emergency landing ...

That is why native Singaporeans need dual citizenship ......

oxford mushroom SG

Besides your 'healthy' penchant in capitalising on low wages of professionals from our immediate Third World neighbors, our health care costs can be lowered by the low costs of production of medicines in the surrounding countries, with local natural resources that can be researched with our capital and knowledge input.

While we participate in a mad rush to be the leading centre in BioTECH research in exotic cures, have we forgotten the other aspects of researches that will bear immediate benefits to Singaporeans - and in areas where our TCM can also contribute ?

Time and again you have failed to understand the issues surrounding healthcare costs. The high costs of medication has nothing to do with the costs of production. It is the high costs levied by the pharmaceutical companies, a consequence of patent protection which lasts 20 years. You cannot manufacture patented drugs and sell them cheap without infringing patent rights.

Biotech is the one of the fastest growing industries...just read the figures from our economic reports and you will have the answer. You are not a healthcare professional and so perhaps you do not understand the implications. Ask your financial advisor: which is the most profitable induistry in the world today.

oxford mushroom SG

Germany companies, indeed, companies all over Europe are outsourcing many of their manufacturing plants to India and China. Many of those that remain receive government subsidies, known as EU state aid, to remain viable. (http://www.economist.com/surveys/displayStory.cfm?story_id=3351416)
In fact, Germany is now looking at outsourcing their R&D in India, because running clinical trials are 40% cheaper there.

Making colour pencils? What is the difference in profit margins between making colour pencils (the raw materials of which have to be imported) and pharmaceutical products? Low-tech industries will not work for Singapore because cheaper economies like China and India are moving up the food chain quickly. So what if you can automate and make colour pencils more efficiently? Why can't a manufacturer move the machines to China and make it even cheaper there? Automation increases productivity by doing the same work with fewer workers, but that does not solve unemployment. We have to increase productivity by increasing the value of the goods, so that employers can afford to hire more employees.

Look at the marketing teams for pharmaceutical companies compared to those in the retail sector, say, for cosmetics. A marketing manager in the cosmetic sector typically handles a dozen or more products and there are 3 or more new product launches per month. There may be 2 or more marketing persons in the pharamceutical company handling just one drug and new product launches come once a year or longer. Yet the pharmaceutical industry employs more marketing personnel and spends far more in marketing than any other industry. Why? Because the profit margins are higer and they can afford it. They also pay better, but you can take a person off the street to sell cosmetics, but not pharmaceutics.

Any job that can be done more cheaply in a cheaper economy will be lost to us. We have to focus on jobs that cannot be outsourced because they are service jobs that must be performed locally (eg. nurses, waiters) or the skill required is beyond the capability of the foreign competitor. Service jobs may be difficult to outsource, but if foreign workers come into Singapore as they do, our workers cannot compete as well. So essentially, if our workers do not want to accept a lower wage like the foreign workers in Singapore, they have to go into hi-tech industries where we still have a relative advantage.

You must not forget that increased productivity also means you need fewer people to do the same job. The UK manufacturing industry accounts for a sixth of total exports and only 15% of the workforce. Their output has not dropped, but the workforce in this industry has been declining year on year. The reason: factories that survive have increased productivity and employ fewer workers and so remain competitive. The others have outsourced their work overseas. So increased productivity does not always mean more jobs, especially if the increase in productivity comes as a result of automation, which can also be replicated in cheaper economies.

When we think of outsourcing to cheaper economies, we used to think of them as low-cost, low-skill centres. Unfortunately, we are up against a greater challenge. China and India are fast becoming low-cost, high-skill economies and we have to go one up against them to survive. Bringing in machines and automation alone is no longer a viable solution...the Chinese are already doing that.

We have to move up the skill ladder and leverage on our reputation as being more responsible maufacturers of high-value goods like pharmaceuticals, compared to China, for example.

[/quote]

LazerLordz SG

My opinion is that we need to diversify beyond manufacuturing.

Why are the young taking up media studies, because it is a globally relevant discipline, and it is one of those sectors, if you do well, you are less at risk of irrelevance than a technical discipline in a narrow sub-field.

Thing is, they are not really bothered to excel beyond our national average standards.

Why do some of us venture into politics and security studies, because we have an interest in it, and I dare say, affinity for these issues at hand.If we look beyond this little island, the jobs are there for the taking. It's the mentality and willingness to work hard around the world that makes or breaks you.

Domestic market-wise, we should have developed a tertiary industry in R&D, and academia 10 years back, and not always harp on middle-level manufacturing.We should have moved beyond labor-intensive industries and I criticise the government for having a cyclical-sourced education plan for the population, which neglects the basics of education such as general knowledge of global affairs, history and geography. These help specialists apply greater sense of market interpretation across the board, and creates citizens who are well-informed.

Instead, we have a reactionary government who is never one step ahead of its peers, but rather seem to want to show that we are in tandem with the fastest economies at the moment. Think about the 1 year delay in mobile wi-fi adoption between SK and Singapore, that's just one tip of the iceberg.

Now they want to place all their eggs into the casino sector, to me, it's just bad cheese in a new wrapper.

oxford mushroom SG

This was questioned in a research paper - "Re-Training in the Post-Industrial Era: A Comparison of Government Policy Responses to Widespread Worker Displacement in Canada and Britain" -

This thesis by the PhD candidate you referred to suggests that re-training to acquire higher skills for an existing job will not work if the problem is industry-wide closures. I agree with that. That's why we cannot be thinking of making colour pencils in Singapore...that sort of jobs are being lost to cheaper economies rapidly. There is no point in re-training our workforce to use high-tech machinery to make colour pencils when such machinery can be acquired and used by cheaper staff in China.

We have to focus on new industries and that's why the government has put emphasis on the biotech and nanotechnology. These industries will require researchers but also production workers. Those that have lost their jobs making computer drives must now re-train to make pharmaceuticals, wear a clean suit and work shifts in making new generation computer chips etc. If our workers refuse to do so, even our new industries will turn to foreign workers and that would be sad indeed.

LazerLordz SG

There is talk of growing the nascent space tourism sector, aerospace sectors and the motorsports sector.

More needs to be done there, more pillars for the economy are needed.

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