The Strait Times newspaper today reported that in Dec 08, the number of graduates who are out of a job is more than twice the number in Dec 07.
Nothing surprising there as the world is in a financial crisis and it is the financial crisis that is blamed for the jobless rate in new graduates. With the financial crisis being the reason why Singapore is in recession now, there’s some truth in that.
However, I feel that the Strait Times is being a little politically correct here as there is another reason why degrees holders in Singapore are suffering more than all the other groups in Singapore.
The reason is that Singapore is still trying to recruit white collar workers (especially white white collar workers) to Singapore. If you are a boss in Singapore and you get to choose between an untrained, no job experience new Singapore graduate, and a highly experienced, recently retrenched old graduate who has worked overseas; who would you pick?
That’s the main reason why the jobless rate of graduates in Singapore is so high.
8 comments:
Soooo the government should ban employers from hiring non-Singaporeans for white-collar jobs? Do you think that would be more likely to result in global corporations hiring local talent, or the relocation of these global corporations to, say, Hong Kong?
At what point in this post did I ever say that the government should ban employers from hiring non-Singaporeans for white-collar jobs? Just stating the bloody obvious on why the jobless rate for graduates is so high
A financial crisis can be expected to lead to higher unemployment. Quite predictably, this would lead to greater difficulties for fresh grads in finding jobs as they would be competing with more experienced workers who have been laid off.
All very predictable (as you acknowledge) and also not the point of your post since you allude to "another reason" and go on to mention political correctness and further, to suggest that things would be better for the Singaporean graduate if employers did not have the choice of employing a "white white collar workers". You even mention this as the "main reason" for the jobless rate of graduates.
Because it is the main reason why the jobless rate of Singaporean graduates is so high. If you look at the Strait Times article today, you will see that the jobless rate of degree holders jumped 123%. The next highest jump is only at 69%. Can't believe 'just' 69% but there it is. The fact that employers can choose between employing a "white white collar workers" or a new Singaporean grad...isn't it obvious who they will picked? I would think that this is a obvious fact.
I never said that employers should be ban from hiring non-Singaporeans.
For a more complete analysis we would need to consider other factors such as which industries are more badly hit by the financial crisis. Not all sectors are affected equally.
For example, the financial services sector is probably one of the worst hit, and this can be expected to affect graduates disproportionately compared to non-graduates.
It's a simple matter of supply and demand. Demand for grads has been hit by the financial crisis, whereas the supply has increased as fresh grads has to fight for jobs against more experienced overseas workers who have been laid off.
You stay place more emphasis on the "overseas" competitors for the jobs whereas I do not think that is the "main" reason. The poor state of the economy is a more likely culprit if we are talking about a "main" reason.
We have to agree to disagree here I’m afraid. I do think the fact that Singapore is continually trying to attract foreign talent to Singapore is the main reason why the jobless rate for degree holders jumped so high.
Post a Comment