After he graduated with a degree in economics
and finance in 2014, Mr Haziq Baharudin spent a year sending out
hundreds of resumes as he looked for a permanent job.
Late last year, the 25-year-old decided it was time to
give up on his job search after he failed to receive any
responses.
He decided he would resume his search for a full-time
position when the economy improves and joined his friends and
started an F&B business.
Mr Haziq is part of a growing number of discouraged
workers here aged under 30.
This year, there were 1,200 young discouraged workers,
up from 700 last year. A discouraged worker is someone who is not
actively looking for a job because he or she does not think that a
search will yield results.
When the prevailing outlook in the economy is gloomy
and there is a shortage of jobs, the incidence of discouraged
workers tends to increase.
This year, there were 9,900 discouraged workers, up
from 8,700 last year but lower than the 11,100 in 2009.
According to the Ministry of Manpower's (MOM) advance
release on the labour force two weeks ago, 6,900 of discouraged
workers - nearly 70 per cent - were aged above 50.
The under 30s were the second largest group at 12 per
cent.
The MOM report cited some reasons for workers being
discouraged - the belief that there is no suitable work available,
employers' discrimination or the lack of necessary qualifications,
training or experience.
National University of Singapore (NUS) labour economist
Liu Hao Ming says it is hard to guess if young discouraged workers
here are highly educated.
He said: "By definition, these individuals believe that
they cannot find a job at the wage rate that is at or above their
reservation wages (lowest wage rate at which a worker is willing to
accept a particular type of job).
"It... is a mix of expectation of acceptable wages and
probability of finding such jobs."
Mr Haziq admits that his chances of employment could
have been limited because he insisted on getting a job in the
creative industry.
Eventually, worry over his finances led him to set up
SteamHaus with his friends.
SteamHaus sells steamed buns at events and has been
quite successful so far.
He said: "I think I would be a lot more stressed if the
business was going badly. I saved quite a bit during National
Service and from my freelance jobs, but I was worried this would
dry up."
NUS sociologist Tan Ern Ser thinks that the number of
young discouraged workers could rise if there continues to be a
mismatch of skills and expectations between job seekers and
employers.
He said: "Our young people have been brought up to
believe in the Singapore Dream - they want to be able to purchase a
flat, settle down and enjoy a decent standard of living. If their
job prospects do not support that kind of aspirations, they would
be rather discouraged."
TNP