[sgbuffett]

This news before the pandemic so you cannot blame the virus.

We can brush it off to say it's not true everything is fine.
But let's for one monet accept these facts.

1. S'pore PMETs are retrenched in banking and infocom...precisely where we import many FTs.

2. Many are retrenched above 40. Is it possible that companies can do this to improve their demographics as there is ample supply from external labor source.

3. Economist tracking the data said these have been happening for nearly a decade.....what happened one decade ago?...do a check.

What is reality and the facts. What is the truth.?

Did Singaporeans imagine all the problems and are misinformed of the causes?





SINGAPORE — Jeremy Ho* (not his real name) began his job hunt even before receiving his retrenchment notice in June, having heard about impending job cuts at the bank where he had spent six years.


But 20 applications and three interviews later, the 39-year-old remains jobless.

Ho is part of a growing group of Professionals, Managers, Executives and Technicians (PMETs) that seem unable to break out of the retrenchment rut. According to the Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM) latest labour report, while retrenchments fell from 3,230 in the first quarter to 2,320 in the second, the number of PMETs who lost their jobs increased from 1,440 to 1,680, making them the bulk of those retrenched.

Nearly half of those told to go had a degree, and 70 per cent were over 40.

“PMETs continue to form a much larger share of retrenched workers compared to their proportion in the workforce,” said DBS senior economist Irvin Seah. PMETs made up 57 per cent of the resident workforce in 2018.

Seah calls PMETs “the newly vulnerable”, noting that the percentage share of PMETs among all retrenched workers has been rising over the past nine years despite their skills and qualifications.

He cited their “persistently much lower” rate of re-entering the workforce after six months of retrenchment - 57.8 per cent in the second quarter, lower than the 59.9 per cent average.

Part of the problem could be an expectations gap. Seah noted, "Most of them are white-collar, skilled workers who command a higher salary and have many financial and family commitments. They are looking for jobs that can support (their lifestyle), but (these) are not readily available anymore."