Thursday, October 14, 2010

How Low Will They Go?

Labour chief Lim Swee Say may choose to turn a deaf ear and blind eye to the plight of the low wage earners, but market forces are still very much at work. Gleaned from the latest release of the Labour Market Highlights September 2010, a joint annual publication by the Ministry of Manpower and the Singapore Workforce Development Agency, the following provide an insight of what the service, manufacturing and retail industries are offering as bare minimum.

Since the above are "published" numbers, it goes without saving that undocumented hires are much worse off. And what opportunities are there for the barely literate, who are unable to qualify for the WSQ (Work Skills Qualification) certification? Squat by the roadside to sell tissue paper?

Urban expert Joel Kotkin ("Great hawker or great scholar for a great city?", ST 13 Oct) is quoted as saying that "A great hawker is more valuable to me than a PhD in English. There must be dignity of labour and respect." He was expressing disappointment that Singapore society is too focused on paper qualifications - "credential crazy" is what he calls it. Hitting closer to home, he adds, "Do you really need to import all your plumbers, all your hawkers or mid-level office staff?"

Fully agree. Just look at this Lim character, Singapore Armed Forces Scholar in Electronics, Computer and Systems Engineering from Loughborough University and Master's Degree in Management from Stanford University. Despite all his paper padding, the humble chicken rice seller commands more respect from the common people.

7 comments:

  1. Zorro went to stanford?

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  2. Mr failed-in-Suzhou-I-feel-so-rich-when-I-see-my-CPF-statement-deaf-frog-better-betterer-betterest, cho-boh-lan Minister with no portfolio.

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  3. wah, plumber and electric workers are super hot demand in Australia. To get them, you need to fix an appointment and usually backlog of 1 week! These guys print money there.
    Cannot imagine the sad state here...

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  4. His "better-betterer-betterest" statement must be a real disgrace to the Master's Degree in Management from Stanford University.

    He certainly lacks EQ & the necessary social skills in dealing with the public. The clown prince certainly needs another clown in his cabinet to divert attention from his own personal lack of charisma.

    But certainly they are not worth the millions that they say they are worth.

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  5. People. Get up and lead if you can. Quit criticizing and then when the time comes to do something, stay home and pretend to support the government, whilst hiding behind internet facades hurling pretty comments.

    As I say, Singaporeans deserve the govt they have.

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  6. Excuse me...

    The people of singapore wasn't in the position to choose this "clown or frog or whatever" paid annually in millions 'minister' plus upcoming pension to boot...all blood money some more...

    Anyway, he was "selected" by the incumbent government for being "talented"...what talent at that time i do not know but now many in singapore can see and continuing to see painfully at their own expense...

    Please note also Mr LSS came in via the "backdoor" method or back-side to "some" folks thru the GRC method where he wasn't really "chosen" or "elected" by the people...

    So to be fair...it is not Singaporeans deserve the govt they get...it is the PAP government that "deserves" what it is getting with all these "elected" 'clowns' or what have you not "real talented" ministers...

    These current generation of PAP ministers really pales/phailed way too much in comparison with the 1st generation of real hands-on PAP ministers...

    How the hell did the PAP government "allow" themselves to morphed into this...is really i am speechless...real intellects don't usually score "As" in their paper to prove they are intellects....it is those [too many] who aren't original thinkers that need certifiable papers to "prove" they are really intelligent...

    Silly as silly does.

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  7. Anonymous,

    I don't mean to say that these pple were selected by the masses. If you don't like them, topple them. Or lead the people to the direction you think should be led. The lack of motivation to remove these so called untalented leaders demonstrates an intrinsic couldn't-care-less attitude at best, and at worst, a fear of not being able to stand up to the challenge.

    So the pple STILL deserve whoever leads them. The lack of ability to find suitable replacements through leadership is simply a unstated approval for the current government. The fact that they are being paid suggests the implicit approval even further. And the people who only dare to hide behind walls of anonymity (myself included) continue to deserve whoever leads them.

    For me, I chose to leave. =))

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