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Coffeeshop Chit Chat - Is the economy really recovering?</TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class=msgtable cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="96%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=msg vAlign=top><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgbfr1 width="1%"> </TD><TD><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR class=msghead vAlign=top><TD class=msgF width="1%" noWrap align=right>From: </TD><TD class=msgFname width="68%" noWrap>kojakbt_89 <NOBR></NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate width="30%" noWrap align=right>10:31 am </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT height=20 width="1%" noWrap align=right>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname width="68%" noWrap>ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> (1 of 6) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft rowSpan=4 width="1%"> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>32586.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt>May 2, 2010
special report: jobless update
Importance of saving hits home
The economy is looking up, but how has life been for Singaporeans who were retrenched during the downturn last year? In February last year, in the midst of the recession following the worldwide financial meltdown, The Sunday Times launched a Need A Job column. We featured 42 people who were looking for full-time employment over the course of 21 weeks. One year on, we revisit three of them to see how they are faring. Jamie Ee Wen Wei reports.
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Laid off in 2008, Ms Ophelia Lim now works as a merchandiser for a shoe chain. She lost $20,000 in a business venture with a friend.
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http://www.straitstimes.com/News/Home/Story/STIStory_521669.html
It has been a rocky time for Ms Ophelia Lim. She got a job, then was told to go on no-pay leave. So she went into business with a friend, but lost $20,000 when that venture failed. Then, she got ano- ther job but quit after three weeks.
In late 2008, she was laid off from her job as a fashion merchandiser when her company shrank its operations. She had been there for three years and was earning about $3,000 a month.
When she was featured in The Sunday Times in February last year, she had been jobless for three months. Within a month, she was hired as a merchandiser by a fashion house. The job sounded promising. She would help the company develop its business at its factory in China while based in Singapore, and could try her hand at fashion design. Her pay was about $2,500.
But barely one month into the job, her employer told her to go on no-pay leave for six months. She took it as a cue to leave.
'I think it ran into some financial problems but I didn't call them to ask. There was no point because I had been working for only a few weeks,' said Ms Lim, 38.
Then came her lowest point - in September last year. She went into business with a friend and lost $20,000. They had set up a shop selling potato salad and sushi in Bishan. But within three months, the business folded when her partner pulled out suddenly.
'I was having so many sleepless nights. I didn't have a job at that time and all the money was just going down the drain.'
She resumed her job search, but did not hear from most of the companies she sent her resume to.
In February this year, she was hired by a firm to sell electronic components. But she quit after three weeks as 'it was too manly and too technical for me. I couldn't see myself doing it for long'.
The financial instability meant that her family had to cut back on extras. The divorcee lives with her three sons - aged 16, 11 and 10 - and her mother in a four-room flat in Toh Guan.
They cooked and stayed home during weekends. They also had to forgo celebrating special occasions like birthdays. 'There's no extra to buy presents, just a cake,' she said.
But things are looking up. Last month, she found a job as a merchandiser at shoe chain Chocolate Schu Bar through a newspaper advertisement.
She has taken a 20 per cent pay cut from her original fashion merchandising job, but she is not complaining. She says she is in a better state than many of her former colleagues in the fashion merchandising business, who are still jobless or taking low salaries.
'I'm lucky because the difference is just a few hundred dollars,' she said of her salary now.
Having survived the recession, Ms Lim, who has A-level qualifications, said the biggest lesson she has learnt is the importance of saving for a rainy day.
'It really hit me hard,' she said. 'My savings ran out within a few months. So now, even though I'm earning less, I make sure I save at least $50 a month.'
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special report: jobless update
Importance of saving hits home
The economy is looking up, but how has life been for Singaporeans who were retrenched during the downturn last year? In February last year, in the midst of the recession following the worldwide financial meltdown, The Sunday Times launched a Need A Job column. We featured 42 people who were looking for full-time employment over the course of 21 weeks. One year on, we revisit three of them to see how they are faring. Jamie Ee Wen Wei reports.
<!-- by line --><!-- end by line -->
<!-- end left side bar -->
<!-- story content : start -->
http://www.straitstimes.com/News/Home/Story/STIStory_521669.html
It has been a rocky time for Ms Ophelia Lim. She got a job, then was told to go on no-pay leave. So she went into business with a friend, but lost $20,000 when that venture failed. Then, she got ano- ther job but quit after three weeks.
In late 2008, she was laid off from her job as a fashion merchandiser when her company shrank its operations. She had been there for three years and was earning about $3,000 a month.
When she was featured in The Sunday Times in February last year, she had been jobless for three months. Within a month, she was hired as a merchandiser by a fashion house. The job sounded promising. She would help the company develop its business at its factory in China while based in Singapore, and could try her hand at fashion design. Her pay was about $2,500.
But barely one month into the job, her employer told her to go on no-pay leave for six months. She took it as a cue to leave.
'I think it ran into some financial problems but I didn't call them to ask. There was no point because I had been working for only a few weeks,' said Ms Lim, 38.
Then came her lowest point - in September last year. She went into business with a friend and lost $20,000. They had set up a shop selling potato salad and sushi in Bishan. But within three months, the business folded when her partner pulled out suddenly.
'I was having so many sleepless nights. I didn't have a job at that time and all the money was just going down the drain.'
She resumed her job search, but did not hear from most of the companies she sent her resume to.
In February this year, she was hired by a firm to sell electronic components. But she quit after three weeks as 'it was too manly and too technical for me. I couldn't see myself doing it for long'.
The financial instability meant that her family had to cut back on extras. The divorcee lives with her three sons - aged 16, 11 and 10 - and her mother in a four-room flat in Toh Guan.
They cooked and stayed home during weekends. They also had to forgo celebrating special occasions like birthdays. 'There's no extra to buy presents, just a cake,' she said.
But things are looking up. Last month, she found a job as a merchandiser at shoe chain Chocolate Schu Bar through a newspaper advertisement.
She has taken a 20 per cent pay cut from her original fashion merchandising job, but she is not complaining. She says she is in a better state than many of her former colleagues in the fashion merchandising business, who are still jobless or taking low salaries.
'I'm lucky because the difference is just a few hundred dollars,' she said of her salary now.
Having survived the recession, Ms Lim, who has A-level qualifications, said the biggest lesson she has learnt is the importance of saving for a rainy day.
'It really hit me hard,' she said. 'My savings ran out within a few months. So now, even though I'm earning less, I make sure I save at least $50 a month.'
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