Trend - Economy Graduates of Hard Knocks Impatient, cocky, the young graduate is going through tough times, making up one-third of retrenched workers. Jan 22, 2002

THE "temps" - or temporary jobs - market has been hit by an influx of highly qualified workers; fresh graduates who are learning some painful lessons about life.

The reason? There are 16,500 unemployed graduates or 30% of the jobless total.

Singapore's new generation is discovering something their peers in other countries knew long ago - that a university degree is not a passport to a good job.

Some 40% of Singaporeans who graduated from the two local universities last June are still unemployed. A year earlier, 85% had found jobs within three months.

The economy fell by 2.2% in 2000, compared to a rise of 9.9% in 1999. Many companies simply stopped hiring; others are still retrenching. The number of bankrupt Singaporeans hit a record 2,904 by November.

Post-independent Singapore has rarely experienced unemployment. Instead it suffered from a workers shortage almost every year, especially those with tertiary education.

And fresh graduates have come to regard a job as a natural right.

About 8,000 to 9,000 Singaporeans graduate every year. That means some 3,000 of last year's batch have joined the ranks of jobless.

Those from rich homes are all right but for many others, life is a cycle of letter writing, interviews and rejections.

In the heydays, companies would move into campus to recruit top students even before their finals.

What do the unemployed do? They simply grab whatever work is available.

Hundreds of holders of science, engineering, economic and other degrees are employed as "temps" waiters or administrative assistants for S$6 or S$7 a day. Others give private tuition or work part-time as Web designers.

The profile of the new Singaporean graduate - impatient, cocky, full of excessive self-worth - is being steadily reshaped by economic hardship. Expectations are being lowered and patience cultivated.

The plight applies to the better students, too.

"Some of them are learning that good grades alone are not enough to get them jobs," said a university jobs placement official.

Unemployment reached 56,800 or 4.5% last year. Two types of workers are affected most: graduates, and the elderly, semi-skilled workers with low education.

In 1998, 16.5% of retrenched workers had tertiary education. Between July and September last year, this group made up 30% of the retrenched.

It is turning sour just as the republic is in the midst of expanding its university undergraduate populations.

At the same time, the downturn in the United States, especially in the dot-com world, has driven back Singaporeans who had been working there.

As a result, starting salaries have generally fallen 30% from S$1,800-S$2,300 to S$1,200-S$1,800 a month. There were cases where holders of "soft degrees" are offered S$1,000 - take it or leave it.

There are indications that the severity is at last sinking into young minds.

Despite the lower wages, longer hours and poorer advancement prospects, many youths are prepared to sign on.

"They don't know when - or if - a recovery will happen," said a personnel manager of a medium-sized firm.

Even among those who believe in an economic recovery this year, few say it will lead to an improvement in the jobs market, he said. "Many of them have gone for good."

Take the case of a 25-year-old with a banking diploma in 1998. Since her retrenchment last July as a bank officer, she has taken on short-term posts including data-entry clerk, telephone operator and administrative assistant.

An older graduate (aged 39) who lost his S$9,000-a-month job, now works part-time as a karaoke jockey.

"The pay (of S$1,400) is relatively low but it's better than nothing," he said.

A building and construction graduate spent weeks bar-hopping to look for a job as a waiter - without success. "I may be a graduate but I don't feel it's beneath me to sweep floors."

The government has asked companies to retrench only as a last resort, but has not interfered beyond giving advice.

Singapore Inc wants to see its companies lean and hungry, able to compete in the world. Its business costs, including salaries, are exceptionally high in Asia.

In the short-term, the government has set up a task force to create jobs. But over the longer spell, a high-level committee led by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lee Hsien Loong is in a major effort to remake Singapore so that it can prosper in the new global economy.

Rising unemployment poses a threat to Singapore's political landscape.

Law lecturer and nominated Member of Parliament Simon Tay thinks the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) hasn't much time to work out a new economic system.

Singapore's politics may move into a period of uncertainty and crisis in the next two or three years unless it comes up with a winner in the restructuring exercise.

These promises were made during last year's general election, which won the PAP a strong mandate.

"Charged with this task, there is a risk that BG Lee may fail," Tay said.

It is difficult work. He may do too much and cause middle-class and lower middle-class Singaporeans to bear the brunt of its effects, Tay added in a public speech.

The rising number of unemployed is bound to raise the public's ire against the policy of accepting more foreign professionals into Singapore.

Criticism that it is stealing local jobs ("they are cheaper") will build into a strong weapon against the government in the next election due in 2007.

Today's hardship is dampening expectations of Singaporean youths, but for how long? Even during these difficult days, I still hear working yuppies say things like "I'm not happy. I'm thinking of resigning."

One corporate affairs director disagreed that last year's batch of graduates are better-adjusted professionals. Many are still picky about jobs, fussy about pay and working hours and, despite the poor environment, some are job-hopping two or three times a year.

One economics graduate said: "I studied hard for four years. I won't work for anything less than S$2,000." He is still waiting.

(This article, by Seah Chiang Nee, was published in Sunday Star, on Jan 20, 2002.)