Let me provide an alternative view. In my company, the upper management is planning on firing the new joiners (fresh grads who joined like 1-2 years ago) so they can hire 2 new fresh grads for the price of 1 (since the new grads are under the traineeship arrangement). Then when the funding stops they will fire more than half of these grads and keep the remaining at low salary. So imagine, 2 new joiners are currently earning 5K each. With the traineeship arrangement company will only need to pay 2.5K per new grad (since other is borne by the company). Then they can hire 4 people for the price of 10K replacing the old 2 employees. Then when the funding stops, they will fire half of these new hires and retain 2 of them while paying them lesser than before. The issue is that traineeship is being seen as a way to cut cost. I am getting sick and tired of having to defend the grads in my team whenever a traineeship arrangement comes out even when the current employees are doing great. I just feel like our future gen is screwed.
in other words, there are jobs, just that no one wants to pay what they are worth.
I just got screwed by this as a new joiner. Literally got laid off right after the traineeship thing came out, didn't even get any severance. I haven't accumulated much in savings and it just frustrates me how the policymakers with all their certs education and experience can't seem to think a bit more long term with their policies. We are a small country with a population shortage being honest there is no serious case for systemic unemployment or underemployment.
Well written, I am glad the writer went through the trouble to point out AI is not the cause, something I strongly agree with as I have seen zero evidence of this happening. Although fresh grads facing employment challenges is a globally observed phenomenon, but Singapore has the added challenge of having a liberal immigration policy, at least up until the pandemic. Some immigration is necessary, but body shops hiring cheap experienced white collar workers en masse that directly supplant local fresh grad opportunities should continue to be curtailed, at least until fresh grad employment recovers (and housing supply improves, public transport not overloaded).
Unemployment, especially for youths with no savings, to me, is a prime cause for public outrage, protests, and civil unrest. Don't have to look far away from home to see how it plays out. Let's see where this leads us to in our system.
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