<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>Sleepless nights spent worrying
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->The gloomy job statistics are of cold comfort to Madam Sharon Ng.
When asked if the rising ranks of the long-term unemployed made her feel less alone in her plight, she retorted: 'This means more competition for me.'
The 49-year-old has been job-hunting since October last year. 'Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and flip through the newspaper's classified section because I can't get back to sleep,' she said.
Formerly a secretary in a textile trading firm, she left her job when her company wanted to cut her salary by more than half.
'I thought I could find a similar job that would pay me as much as before the pay cut. But I didn't expect it to be this difficult. My savings are almost all gone.'
Madam Ng has a six-year-old son. Her husband, a building supervisor, is now the sole breadwinner. Overseas holidays and shopping trips are now a thing of the past.
'Friends and family take me out to a simple dinner occasionally, but it's embarrassing to always let people pay for you.'
She goes to as many as three interviews a day but has not heard from any prospective employers.
Earlier this year, she borrowed $1,300 from relatives to complete a diploma in business and human resource management at the Singapore Human Resources Institute. 'I didn't want to waste my time sitting at home,' she said.
She is giving herself two more months to get a job before her Plan B kicks in.
'Recently, I have been considering starting a hawker stall. It requires less capital than an office business and in good or bad times, people still need to eat.'
Debbie Yong
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->The gloomy job statistics are of cold comfort to Madam Sharon Ng.
When asked if the rising ranks of the long-term unemployed made her feel less alone in her plight, she retorted: 'This means more competition for me.'
The 49-year-old has been job-hunting since October last year. 'Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and flip through the newspaper's classified section because I can't get back to sleep,' she said.
Formerly a secretary in a textile trading firm, she left her job when her company wanted to cut her salary by more than half.
'I thought I could find a similar job that would pay me as much as before the pay cut. But I didn't expect it to be this difficult. My savings are almost all gone.'
Madam Ng has a six-year-old son. Her husband, a building supervisor, is now the sole breadwinner. Overseas holidays and shopping trips are now a thing of the past.
'Friends and family take me out to a simple dinner occasionally, but it's embarrassing to always let people pay for you.'
She goes to as many as three interviews a day but has not heard from any prospective employers.
Earlier this year, she borrowed $1,300 from relatives to complete a diploma in business and human resource management at the Singapore Human Resources Institute. 'I didn't want to waste my time sitting at home,' she said.
She is giving herself two more months to get a job before her Plan B kicks in.
'Recently, I have been considering starting a hawker stall. It requires less capital than an office business and in good or bad times, people still need to eat.'
Debbie Yong
