The Snitch

I was in the taxi on the way to work today when a story about holiday recruitment for teenagers (who usually would find jobs such as sales) was broadcast over the Chinese news radio station.

The taxi driver then scoffed, saying something to the effect of, “Companies are retrenching now, why do these kids even want a part-time job?” The taxi driver went on to talk about how companies would rather retrench a person holding a $2,000 – $3,000 salary for a fresh grad who was cheaper.

I won’t deny that such incidents do not happen. But I won’t agree that these incidents are representative of the labour market in general. Depending on the skill sets, attributes and experience needed, for a company to sack a person of more experience for a fresh grad shows a lack of long-term planning.

As much as I think taxi drivers (especially the chatty ones) are the ones with the pulse on what is happening in society, I always happen to think that a certain subset of Singaporeans are a pretty cynical bunch in general. When the economy is in good times and reports of higher wages are all over the news – people ask: “Who is this happening to and why aren’t I getting a raise?”

Especially now in the bad times, there are questions being raised at local politicians of how foreigners are taking away jobs held by Singaporeans. Is this true? With the rising foreign population, it can be. But in our cynicism, we also forget to think about how the growing population is fuelling a demand for new goods and services, or how some enterprising foreigners (like my boss, for instance) actually help create new jobs and businesses here.

When we don’t have a big picture, sometimes we take our perceptions to be the ultimate truth.

And just for fun, some of the other topics my taxi driver talked about included:

• Married women who don’t want to give birth
• How I should take the Nicholl Highway in the future
• Murder rates in Singapore
• Taiwanese politicians
• How narrow expressway ramps contribute to congestion
• The dearth of topics on the Chinese news station