Thomas came in to see me all perspiring after visiting Caliberlink at Brash Basah Road two hours earlier.
He also has to return to work at 2.15pm for the second shift of his 3-month-old technician job with a MNC. The second shift ends at 11pm but Thomas is not complaining.
It was something that he desperately took up as he didn’t want to go jobless for too long after he was retrenched from a lucrative $60,000/year IT engineering position earlier this year.
He has worked there for six years and was fortunate to come out with a reasonable severance package.
However, his wife is a home maker and it would be disastrous for two adult family members to go unemployed at the same time.
He has two primary school-going boys and it was a challenge to make ends meet if there is no income for a prolonged period - to him the technician position was a God-sent.
“It was also something that kept me going even though the pay is 1/3 of what I earned,” he told me when I offered him a drink and tissue to wipe off his perspiration.
Its true that jobless PMETs who continue working at lower-end jobs after retrenchment often feel energised and positive than those who simply apply for jobs and wait at home for the phone calls.
Looking younger than his mid-40s age, Thomas earned his engineering degree from NTU and life was rosy then as the lucrative semi-con industry has just took off and work was plentiful.
Nevertheless, all good things have to come to an end and he was soon retrenched from his engineering job early this year.
He has sent out numerous job applications as an angineer but none came back favourably so when the employment agent advertised for a technician position at $1600/month, he jumped at the offer even though the entry level is only a diploma.
“Its more like a production operator job and even below that of a diploma holder,” Thomas told me.
How long do you want to continue in the job? I asked.
“As long as I am still looking for a a permanent enginnering position,” he replied.
He knew that his biggest competitiors are cheap thrid-world engineers from India, Philippines and India who will flock to our country for as little as $2000/month.
His current company also hires many technicians but they are all permanent residents – mostly from India, Philippines and PRC China. They all earn around $1600 and below.
There are also many local diploma holders who just served out their national service working there but the turn over is high as the job is monotonous and does not require much technical skills.
Thomas has tried to request for upgrading courses from a few government aid bodies in the nursing and therapist profession but when he was told that the starting entry pay is not more than $1500, he hesitated.
“I wanted to switch to another line but it has got to be viable,” Thomas told me.
After studying full time for more than a year, the entry pay for many niche in-demand fields such as nursing is not attractive enough to convince past high-income engineers like Thomas to make the switch.
He will continue to look for engineering jobs but so far the response has being discouraging. as he has being rather selective in the positions that he applied for.
After speaking with Thomas for about an hour, I must say that I was inspired by his zeal to survive even though he could onlty take home less than $1200 for his efforts.
Transitioning has seen close to 500 clients of which at least half are with engineering background.
Some ended up driving cabs or become property agents even though they have engineering degrees from our prestigious local universities.
The semi-con shut down has truly affected the rice bowls of many of our engineers who took the cue from our government two decades ago to study engineering courses.
Now, they face the onslaught of competition from many cheap young engineers hailed from third world countries who could ply their trade here due to the ease in getting them work permits.
Looking at Thomas case, I feel that it will be a tall order for him to secure any engineering job despite his qualification and years of relevant experience and even if he manages to find one, the pay will not be anywhere near to his previous salary before he was retrenched.
Unless the government drastically reduces foreign talents soon, we will see more Thomas running around – jobless and desperate.
We will also see more undergraduates opting to study the arts and social sciences in universities as this is the best way to gain entry to the secured civil service sector.
Singapore will in future face the unpleasant situation of not having enough local experienced engineers as currently most of the engineering positions are occupied by foreigners.
The profession may also be cheapened by foreign hirings who may one day take their experience with them to other developed countries who will treasure their skills more.
Written by: Gilbert Goh
Perhaps you can also ask future interviewees the profit margin of their previous and current company to help readers get a perspective of the extent to which companies are squeezing and shortchanging Singaporean workers.
there will always be never ending supply of foreign workers who can come here, to replace us, to them $1500 – 2000 sing is a lot , they can remit back home, but our families , our homes are here
Admire your attitude, I too am working at 1/3 my last drawn salary but a job is better than none. Have you tried to apply for financial assistance via CDC or CDAC?
Would recommend your wife work too as dual income is good. You maybe eligible to your children into child care or student care. Would advise you to go down to CDC or CDAC to enquire more about the various options you may have.
FYI, they are open on sats too thus you may not need to take a day off, you can call to make an appointment. All the best
It’s true. Ive rented out my hdb to s-pass foreigners working as engineers in mnc’s. All have degrees, but obviously frm weird unknown ones in india or china. I will say their standard even below local poly diploma. But their pay is $2k-$2.5k. Very high for them and their quality. They are almost always below 26 yrs old. I never see one that is older than 29.
These days, technical jobs n functions have been commoditised and broken down into standardized processes. 80% ofprevious degree positions can actually be done by even a-level students. Very difficult for 35+ to expect high paying engineer jobs unless its r&d in big mnc or mgmt position. For mgmt, u usually need good contacts.
Wda conversion programs such as nursing or therapist make practical sense only for people earning less than 3k, or those long-term unemployed. (but just to let people know that even such wda programs are biased against long term unemployed — if you r jobless for 1 yr or more, chances are wda won’t select you.) I know 2 or 3 execs earning $4k-$5k who went into such wda programs. But dig a little deeper and you know why. All 3 aimed to migrate to australia after serving their bond. As experienced nurses in aust, they can easily earn $5k for half the working hrs.
I have a Higher Nitec in Mechanical Engineering & was an ex regular in the Armed Forces for 6 years. Till my contract was not extended. In the middle of the last decade, quite a number of specialists never got their contracts extended due to changes in career advancement policies. It has shaken our beliefs of regular jobs being the “iron rice bowl” as the previous generations often preached.
Tried a few technical posts like Shipyard Foreman, Service Advisor for Automotive Workshops as well as Sales Administrator for Automotive Parts. All these posts were flooded with foreigners. Salary is one issue. But being the lone local in the midst means suffering the office politics of being elbowed out by the united foreign staff be it of PR or Work Permit Holders.
During the Lehman bro crisis, I returned to the uniformed groups, working in Certis Cisco as an Auxiliary Police Officer. Despite of the high gross pay advertised in the job recruit ads, after breaking down the sub components such as assignment allowance etc, my basic was $1,100, slightly better then some of my colleagues, basic of $900 due to my ex regular experience.
This spells low overtime rates however the major turn off is the liability of the 44 hours work week, with a deductible 1 hour per shift irregardless whether break was given. & the 44 hours work week can be averaged off for the 1st 3 weeks of the month. Every single clause of the employment act was fully scrutinised to squeeze every single ounce of juice out of us. That was the 1st & the last job experience with a semi gov corp. I can understand how the bus drivers at SMRT felt.
Now I’m happily working as a Chauffeur, finding my niche market in the highly competitive job market. I was often rebuked for not finding a proper job, competing with retirees. The alarming trend is that I find more & more young people like me, late 20s to early 30s entering this trade, be it a Chauffeur or Taxi Driver.
“Transitioning has seen close to 500 clients of which at least half are with engineering background.”.
- Is a this representative of the Singapore workforce of PMETs or is only a fraction of this?
“Some ended up driving cabs or become property agents even though they have engineering degrees from our prestigious local universities.”
- Is there a problem to be a cab driver or property agent just because on has a degree? I know of cab drivers who enjoy their work and take home a comfortable salary? so what is it with doing any other jobs, if it brings in the income?
“Singapore will in future face the unpleasant situation of not having enough local experienced engineers as currently most of the engineering positions are occupied by foreigners.”
The semi-con shut down has truly affected the rice bowls of many of our engineers who took the cue from our government two decades ago to study engineering courses.”
- Are you expecting the government to guarantee you an engineering job for life, just because one take an engineering degree on “cue” from the government? “Cue” from the government but the final choice and decision is the individual’s.
“Now, they face the onslaught of competition from many cheap young engineers hailed from third world countries who could ply their trade here due to the ease in getting them work permits.”
- This is not a phenomena only special to Singapore. Engineers in the relevant fields can can work in HK and China easily as well.
“Singapore will in future face the unpleasant situation of not having enough local experienced engineers as currently most of the engineering positions are occupied by foreigners. ”
“Most” as in 50%, 80%, 90% or what? Is this a fact or purely an opinion? I do know of many Singaporean engineers working for various MNCs in Singapore.
1) If there is only a couple of cases, it doesn’t represent anything.
2) Of coz it will be better to find a job related to the degree, if not, why would u waste money and study for?
3) We are not expecting government to guarantee us, we just want to stop making lives difficult for us cos of their benefits.
4) Only in Singapore u will find degree jobs with low salary. And FTs that got the job are with fake/unrecognized degrees and almost the same resumes.
5) U know many Singaporeans engineers? So is this a representative of the Singapore workforce of PMETs or is only a fraction of this?
If u are trying to questions the question just for the sake of it, please go do something more constructive.
Please come over to australia, there is a skill shortage especially now when Western Australia’s mining industries are booming and they are so desperate for skilled labours that they are bringing in 8,000 chinese workers in.
I am in the construction based service industry. It’s
so hard to find Singaporeans willing to work as Project supervisors/engineers to oversee installation work on site. Many advertisements were placed in local newspaper but only foreigners seemed keen. Is it case of local not
wanting to work in non-airconditioned and dusty environment?
Hope i am not too late in posting comments
I dun mean to be mean. One thing I always wonder was that before Thomas was shown the door, was he also involved in bringing in foreigners but cared little about the consequences as he was not yet affected?
His previous high position seemed to suggest he might have done so.
The jobless rate in Singapore is getting worst, in Singapore is citizens pay governments’ salary……
In order to help Singaporeans to have better living there is a way, i suggest Singapore should follow western countries, that is government pay citizens salary during their unemployment period. E.g Unemployment citizens shares to lightrn their problem…….
Singapore is quite rich to lend money to united states country. The best way is keep the money to help Singaporeans who are unemployed , as unemployment are getting more and worst…..
Maybe Singapore needs more voices of the people to help and change their destiny otherwise it may be worst and worst…..
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For those engineering n IT graduates, life is getting tougher….its all about survival, competing with FT. Its all about supply and demand now, Spore economy is now more to Tourism, Finance n maybe Education…if u can diversify yr skills n education to these industries, maybe u have a better chance if not maybe u can work in another country that need your skills set…good luck.
Many foreigners with the same or lesser qualifications than Singaporeans are paid more salaries than locals… Does the govt know about this???
Its depend on the Recruiting Mgr, if he/she employ the same nationali…. India, PRC or Pinoy, they will support each other ..their own country man.