Monday, May 24, 2010

Security of employment

Jobs are no long secure in Singapore due to the following reasons:
a) global competition
b) outsourcing of jobs in public sector
c) easy entry of foreign workers
d) pro-business environment
e) weak protection of workers and managers

I cite the case of a friend who lost a job after 11 years due to a change of management, as the new management wish to bring in his buddies. The friend had a good testimonial from the previous management. He was given only 3 months of salary as a severence package. He has a family and an elderly mother to support.

In an environment where jobs are not secure, it is important to avoid making financial commitment, such as:
a. buying an expensive home on mortgage
b. raising a family.

Perhaps, it is not necessary for me to raise these points, as many Singpoareans are aware about the sitaution and have decided not to get married or to have children. This is probably the reason why Singapore has perhaps the lowest birth rate among all countries in the world.  This is due to the lack of employment security and the high cost of living in Singapore.

It is important for each person to have a large emergency fund, comprising of personal savings of up to six months of earnings. This fund may have to be drawn down in an emergency. It should be kept in liquid form, and not invested in a inflexible investment, such as a life assurance policy. Read my tips in my book, Practical Guide on Financial Plannng.

For older people who are already committed to a expensive mortgage and a family, it is time to stop further commitments and to build up the emergency fund early.  Search Youtube for the videos by Suze Osman, who is a presenter in CNBC programme. She has been giving the same advice for the past two years, i.e. build an emergency fund.

Tan Kin Lian

Minimum wage

The government leaders have been telling the people that a minimum wage will cause the jobs to be lost. This is only partly true; largely, it is false.

A minimum wage is necessary to ensure that the worker earns enough to pay for the cost of living by doing a full day's work. If the wage is below the minimum, the worker has to work longer hours. This will cause other people to be unemployed. For a stable society, we need to have most people, who are able and willing to work, to be able to find a job and earn enough enough to raise a family and be a contributing member of society.

A decent wage, as opposed to a sub-minimum wage, does not cause the loss of jobs. Wages are only one component of the total cost of production. The other components are cost of property (i.e. rental), government taxes and shareholder profits. If wages are too low, more of the cost goes towards rental and profits. The imbalance, between wages and rental, is one factor leading to the high property prices in Singapore.

Many of the jobs in a country are in the service sector. They are part of the domestic economy. They have to be done in the country and cannot be lost. Examples are education, health, transport and personal services. A minimum wage to these sectors affect all businesse and will be added to the cost of providing the service. It can be kept low, if the other components, such as rental, taxes and profits, are kept at the fair market levels - and are not inflated due to the failure of the market, e.g. if there is a near monopoly.

Many global businesses come to Singapore to enjoy the low wages contributed by foreign workers who work in Singapore. The social cost of these foreign workers have not been properly factored - i.e. the overcrowding and the strain on the public services (i.e education, health and transport). If these are properly accounted, the strategy of low wages, i.e. no minimum wage, in creating jobs in Singapore is not compelling.

I believe that it is time for a minimum wage to be introduced in Singapore and for the market in labour to find its new level. I believe that we are among the few developed economies that do not have a minimum wage.

Tan Kin Lian

Wages of older workers

This letter appears in the Online Forum of the Straits Times on 24 May 2010.

I refer to the letter entitled “Less than 3% of private firms cut older worker’s wages” (ST 20 May) sent in jointly by the Singapore National Employer’s Federation, Ministry of Manpower and the National Trades Union Congress.

Employers in Singapore have the flexibility to terminate an older worker for a variety of reasons, including restructuring and outsourcing. This has been practiced quite often in the private and public sectors. There is little need for them to keep workers until age 60 to have their wages reduced under the Retirement Age Act. This probably account for the low percentage of employers exercising this wage cut.

I cite the case of a friend who has worked for 11 years in regional business development for a local insurance company. He was rated as a good performer by the previous management. Recently, with a change of top management, he was asked to leave and was offered a compensation of only 3 months of salary.

He asked for my assistance on how to make an appeal to the Ministry of Manpower, as he still has a family and an sick elderly mother to support.

I hope that our tripartite partners will recognise this type of difficulty faced by many Singaporeans. The current employment practices offer little protection to workers, especially those at the older wages, when the top management outsource the work to contractors to reduce their cost or replace senior people with their own buddies.

It is time for Singapore to consider a minimum wage so that the wages of our worker do not continue to stagnate due to outsourcing to contractors who can employ foreign workers at lower cost. There is also a need to set a certain level of retrenchment benefit for all workers, including managers, to protect them against being replaced for reasons that are not related to bad performance.

Tan Kin Lian

Ponzi Scheme

Here is an article to explain how the ponzi scheme started.

My comment
A ponzi scheme usually offer an attractive return. The operator take the money from the investors to pay back the earlier investors. As long as the ponzi scheme continues to grow exponentially in size, the operator is able to carry on. During this time, the operator continues to siphon off the money. When the new money stops coming in, the ponzi collapses.