Lone local grad in SME: All my FT colleagues will not stay in Singapore

[makapaaa]

[h=2]Lone local grad in SME: All my FT colleagues will not stay in Singapore[/h]

May 26th, 2012 |

Author: Contributions

"Things still look bleak for me..."

I have been working with my foreign colleagues for nearly two months. I have also lunched with them. It was blatantly obvious that they are using Singapore as a money tree or stepping stone.
Almost all of them declared they don’t want to retire in Singapore and naturally many also hesitated converting themselves into citizens of Singapore. They admitted that Singapore is an expensive place to live.
In fact, one of my pregnant colleagues who is a permanent resident, went back to Malaysia for her medical checkup recently.
When I asked her why, she stated that healthcare in Malaysia is free as compared to Singapore.
She even hesitated to allow her kid to be born and raised in Singapore. When I probed again, she stated “Singapore is the place where you work until you die”.
But with regard to finding a job, they consider Singapore to be a place with better employment opportunities compared to their own country.
Basically, they scrimped a lot when they are staying in Singapore so that they can buy property back in their homeland. $200,000 is enough for them to buy a terrace house back home!
Even though they are underpaid and with my boss fluctuating mood, they tolerate it without letting it bother them too much.
On the other hand, I am also underpaid but considering I am also a Singaporean, things are different. My boss might find me expensive as compared to the foreigners and he may also harbour higher expectations from me.
Honestly, I don’t know whether I can work for long. Things still look bleak for me and I don’t know how to source out for better prospects.
Just hope things will turn out better.
Best regards,
.
Tina
* The writer has a local degree but her pay is below $2000/month. Most of the jobs that she applied for previously are also in the salary range of $2000 – $2200 only due perhaps to her lack of work experience. She is the only local worker in her small SME outfit of twelve staff. The letter first appeared on transitioning.org.

 

[besotted]

$2,000 is decent money for young grad. Stop whining

 

[ginfreely]

$2,000 is decent money for young grad. Stop whining

Below $2k starting pay now for degree graduate is very low, that was the starting pay my elder sister got two decades ago even from non-engineering degree...

 

[ChaoPappyPoodle]

Below $2k starting pay now for degree graduate is very low, that was the starting pay my elder sister got two decades ago even from non-engineering degree...

The FT tide wlll not cease with PAPzis having power. Every FT that leave for home to retire will take with themselves about $250,000 at least after savings, CPF and selling house. The outflow of wealth created by the country when FT leaves each year will be a huge amount. The PAPzis are a bunch of fair weather politicians and only concern about shortterm gain. The country is headed for economic disaster in 10-20 years, maybe sooner. Already citizens are suffering with less jobs and lower pay with higher home pricing and inflation.

 

[babuSingh]

One good example is PRC colleagues in my company are from NTU/NUS and tution and exam fees are all paid for. They got Masters/PHD whereas most of our local lads only stop at bachelors and have to step into the workforce as the price of education is too costly for some families.

Where are they now? They have left the country to work in USA/canada after competing with our jobs for a lower pay. Of course they took their wealth with them to the new host country.

So whats the point?

 

[Agoraphobic]

Given a choice, would'nt you rather retire in a place that is not congested? City living is fine when you're young, trendy, energetic, a prefer a sophisticated and fashionable lifestyle. But would you want that kind of lifestyle in your greying years?

Cheers!