Got this picture from the Ministry of Manpower website. I don't really know what I should make out of it. Should I be happy or should I be worried for my future. There seems to be a trend towards upgrading oneself in almost all face of recession in Singapore. It happened in 1997, 2002 and now 2009. And I believe this cycle will continue as long as I live here. This is something I have come to accept but not try to forget. It's denial/ignorance of this Singaporean life cycle that makes one unemphatic about being Singaporean.

Singapore is thus indeed unique in this sense that livelyhood and employment trends are always critically depandent on how well the ecomony does. Singapore makes a living through importing and exporting goods. When the economy slums, for whatever reasons, like the recent the meltdown of the global financial system, we, Singaporean will be like very naked shores. For our tides brings in wealth but also tsunamis. We are easily exposed.

Which also brings up the question of most importance, education. Does the education policy of Singapore fit into the economic shceme of things? Is Singapore too ambitious of supplying too many fields of study that it doesn't consider what the employment market actually requires? And is it because of this arrangement, that some Singaporeans choosen to migrate not only because of field of work but also because of fierce competition and the lack of political freedom or, all of the above?

What then does it say for those who have been left out by the economy? What does it say for stayers? How does retrenchment impact those, from construction workers to bankers and have their lives come to a halt? How does one after years of good education or employment, reconcile with the fact that his or her fate is a good as the economy gets? Why has the Singapore system been so?

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_400852.html

THE Housing and Development Board (HDB) will offer 8,000 new flats this year, or more if the pickup is stronger, said National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan on Wednesday. He said the board is monitoring demand and will 'calibrate its supply of new flats' to meet some of that demand - but not all.

He also said the HDB will continue to supply new housing units but 'we cannot be building new flats to cater to every last person who wants a new flat...because if you do that, then obviously you are over-building'

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Here we have our dear Minister for National Development, Mr Mah Bow Tan, telling you something about how his HDB sees providing affordable homes as it is. (Flat prices are now 200K average per unit. Effing cheap!)

Wow, he said can't cater to everyone who wants a roof over his head. If we supplied people with roofs over their head, we over supply! Talk about econmic forces man! This Minister should be an great businessman! A great business man need not worry about customer satisfaction or whether anyone buys his product, when his company has monopoly. Clap Clap!

No wonder they always build HDB in small batches, keep demand high, sell it high. Simple supply and demand forces. Read the whole article if you want your blood vessel to burst. :)

* 4.8 Million is the current population.
There were about 24,600 marriages in 2008 http://www.singstat.gov.sg/stats/themes/people/marriages.pdf
80% live in HDB flats.
You work out the math.

Mah Bow Tan
http://www.parliament.gov.sg/AboutUs/Org-Leader.htm