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18-02-2015, 03:00 AM
An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:
SINGAPOREANS ARE BEGINNING TO GET UNCOMFORTABLE WITH M’SIAN FTS
Post date:
17 Feb 2015 - 6:42pm
http://therealsingapore.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mole%20singapore%20malaysia%20tunnel%20copy.storyi mage_1.jpg?itok=CaZObhPy (http://therealsingapore.com/sites/default/files/field/image/mole%20singapore%20malaysia%20tunnel%20copy.storyi mage_1.jpg)
Manfred appears to be the typical guy you meet on the streets. He is a diploma holder in his early 30s, recently married and earns $3,100 as an operations executive in a local SME. Like most of your average Singaporeans, he and his Accounts Executive wife live comfortably life in a 4-room flat and own a Kia.
Like many other Singaporeans, he has a struggle with the costs of living that he is not willing to publicly admit. In the past few years alone, more than 43,000 Singaporeans have gotten into debts which exceeds a year’s salary. And the problem is not getting better with a competitive job market that puts Singaporeans on an unfair playing ground.
The problem of stagnating salaries can be attributed to PAP’s liberal immigration policy which does not adequately protect the rights of Singaporean workers. Prior to the 2011 General Elections, workers from backward countries such as Malaysia can qualify for an S-pass despite earning as little as $2000 a month.
From an employer’s perspective, this makes it preferable to hire an experienced, degree-holding foreigner to take on entry to mid-level roles such as sales co-ordinator and marketing executive given that an average poly grad with no experience would cost almost as much after accounting for employer’s CPF contributions.
Not surprisingly, the full-time employment rate for fresh polytechnic graduates have fallen to 60% while the phenomenon of “under-employment” for graduates have surfaced.
Even after tweaks to the system following public unhappiness after the 2011 General Elections, skilled workers are still not fully sheltered from the effects of such liberal immigration. For example, all auditors are given an Employment pass regardless of their contractual salary. To make matters worse, such foreigners on Employment Pass are not subject to a quota.
This inflow of cheap foreign labour is detrimental to locals like Manfred, who are not given upgrading opportunities in the abundance of external hiring. Consequently, it is estimated that as many as 60% of the employees at some medium-sized accounting practice and finance teams are foreigners.
According to a recent accountancy graduate, who did not want to be named “The fact that you need at least an AAB at A-levels to get into a local accountancy course suggests that there is no shortage of highly qualified locals who want to move into this field. Yet, the accountancy and finance teams are filled with foreigners!”
She added that auditors with the “Big 4” accounting firms with 3 years of experience are highly sought after to work in MNCs, banks and listed companies in middle management roles.
Given the influx of Malaysians in the sector, this creates a vicious spiral as they get propelled into hiring positions and have the tendency to hire their own people over similarly qualified Singaporeans.
This is only one side of the picture, as the foreigners are essentially responsible for asset inflation and overcrowding too; while the number of hospital beds has remained stagnated over the past decade, the population has increased by more than 40% in the same era, resulting in massive inadequacies.
The same can be said for the transport and housing infrastructure as well. Manfred, who paid $420,000 for his BTO in 2012 sighed, when he was asked about his future optimism while living in Singapore. He cites the population white paper as the turning point in Singaporean politics, which he sees as a reversal from the PAP’s promise to reduce foreigners.
“I was taking home $2,700 half a decade ago. Sure, my salary has risen but this is honestly not enough to match inflation. For example, my mother’s monthly visits to the clinic costs about $30 then but consultation has increased to about $100. Worse, I begin to feel that my salary has come to a point where it has stagnated.”
The same sentiment can be felt by many Singaporeans a well, with opposition parties such as the SDP proposing increasingly viable alternatives to governance. Even as the PAP promises change, these have been minute and carries no palpable effect which has left Singaporeans angrier than ever.
For things such as revamping the NS and CPF systems, changes have been at best perfunctory. Given the massive amounts spent on study trips to Scandinavian countries which practice conscription, there is neither a defence tax for foreigners as proposed nor is there a raise in NSF’s pay. Worse, changes to the CPF system are merely in name.
Giving the anger on the ground, voicing out against the PAP no longer takes on online ranting. Rather, it has manifested to having an alternative choice on the ballot box, something which Singaporeans are no longer afraid to do.
As Lee Hsien Loong’s recent surgery sparks off the topic on succession planning for Singapore’s political leadership, it becomes certain that the era for PAP’s dominance has come to an end.
JL
Click here to view the whole thread at www.sammyboy.com (http://www.singsupplies.com/showthread.php?200891-Msians-Hiring-Kakis-amp-Marginalizing-SGs-in-Accounting-Job-Market!&goto=newpost).
SINGAPOREANS ARE BEGINNING TO GET UNCOMFORTABLE WITH M’SIAN FTS
Post date:
17 Feb 2015 - 6:42pm
http://therealsingapore.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mole%20singapore%20malaysia%20tunnel%20copy.storyi mage_1.jpg?itok=CaZObhPy (http://therealsingapore.com/sites/default/files/field/image/mole%20singapore%20malaysia%20tunnel%20copy.storyi mage_1.jpg)
Manfred appears to be the typical guy you meet on the streets. He is a diploma holder in his early 30s, recently married and earns $3,100 as an operations executive in a local SME. Like most of your average Singaporeans, he and his Accounts Executive wife live comfortably life in a 4-room flat and own a Kia.
Like many other Singaporeans, he has a struggle with the costs of living that he is not willing to publicly admit. In the past few years alone, more than 43,000 Singaporeans have gotten into debts which exceeds a year’s salary. And the problem is not getting better with a competitive job market that puts Singaporeans on an unfair playing ground.
The problem of stagnating salaries can be attributed to PAP’s liberal immigration policy which does not adequately protect the rights of Singaporean workers. Prior to the 2011 General Elections, workers from backward countries such as Malaysia can qualify for an S-pass despite earning as little as $2000 a month.
From an employer’s perspective, this makes it preferable to hire an experienced, degree-holding foreigner to take on entry to mid-level roles such as sales co-ordinator and marketing executive given that an average poly grad with no experience would cost almost as much after accounting for employer’s CPF contributions.
Not surprisingly, the full-time employment rate for fresh polytechnic graduates have fallen to 60% while the phenomenon of “under-employment” for graduates have surfaced.
Even after tweaks to the system following public unhappiness after the 2011 General Elections, skilled workers are still not fully sheltered from the effects of such liberal immigration. For example, all auditors are given an Employment pass regardless of their contractual salary. To make matters worse, such foreigners on Employment Pass are not subject to a quota.
This inflow of cheap foreign labour is detrimental to locals like Manfred, who are not given upgrading opportunities in the abundance of external hiring. Consequently, it is estimated that as many as 60% of the employees at some medium-sized accounting practice and finance teams are foreigners.
According to a recent accountancy graduate, who did not want to be named “The fact that you need at least an AAB at A-levels to get into a local accountancy course suggests that there is no shortage of highly qualified locals who want to move into this field. Yet, the accountancy and finance teams are filled with foreigners!”
She added that auditors with the “Big 4” accounting firms with 3 years of experience are highly sought after to work in MNCs, banks and listed companies in middle management roles.
Given the influx of Malaysians in the sector, this creates a vicious spiral as they get propelled into hiring positions and have the tendency to hire their own people over similarly qualified Singaporeans.
This is only one side of the picture, as the foreigners are essentially responsible for asset inflation and overcrowding too; while the number of hospital beds has remained stagnated over the past decade, the population has increased by more than 40% in the same era, resulting in massive inadequacies.
The same can be said for the transport and housing infrastructure as well. Manfred, who paid $420,000 for his BTO in 2012 sighed, when he was asked about his future optimism while living in Singapore. He cites the population white paper as the turning point in Singaporean politics, which he sees as a reversal from the PAP’s promise to reduce foreigners.
“I was taking home $2,700 half a decade ago. Sure, my salary has risen but this is honestly not enough to match inflation. For example, my mother’s monthly visits to the clinic costs about $30 then but consultation has increased to about $100. Worse, I begin to feel that my salary has come to a point where it has stagnated.”
The same sentiment can be felt by many Singaporeans a well, with opposition parties such as the SDP proposing increasingly viable alternatives to governance. Even as the PAP promises change, these have been minute and carries no palpable effect which has left Singaporeans angrier than ever.
For things such as revamping the NS and CPF systems, changes have been at best perfunctory. Given the massive amounts spent on study trips to Scandinavian countries which practice conscription, there is neither a defence tax for foreigners as proposed nor is there a raise in NSF’s pay. Worse, changes to the CPF system are merely in name.
Giving the anger on the ground, voicing out against the PAP no longer takes on online ranting. Rather, it has manifested to having an alternative choice on the ballot box, something which Singaporeans are no longer afraid to do.
As Lee Hsien Loong’s recent surgery sparks off the topic on succession planning for Singapore’s political leadership, it becomes certain that the era for PAP’s dominance has come to an end.
JL
Click here to view the whole thread at www.sammyboy.com (http://www.singsupplies.com/showthread.php?200891-Msians-Hiring-Kakis-amp-Marginalizing-SGs-in-Accounting-Job-Market!&goto=newpost).