Salaries fit for a king

Today, my good friend David sent me some articles that almost made me fall off my chair. JobsDB recently did a survey on Singaporean kids aged 7-14, asking them about their dream jobs and salary expectations.

http://www.jobsdb.com.sg/singapore/campus/campusnews-dream-jobs-of-singapores-youth.htm

No, the shocking thing isn’t just that 7 year-old kids are already dreaming about salaries. The most alarming thing in the article is that monthly salary expectations range from $2,000 to – wait for it – $60,000.

Yes, $60,000.

Now, I sincerely hope that this figure came from a 7 year-old and not from a 14 year-old, because we’re in big trouble if our kids don’t become get a better sense of reality as they grow older.

Oh wait – apparently, some don’t, even after they’ve started working.

http://marketing-interactive.com/news/19913

“A quarterly survey of nearly 3,000 Singapore-based employees by international search firm Berkley Recruitment Group has revealed that 37% expect a pay rise of 5% or more as the economy recovers.
While 15% of respondents do not expect any pay raise this year, slightly over a quarter polled are optimistic enough to expect a pay raise of 10% or more. The positive sentiment shared among respondents in Singapore is significantly higher compared to their global counterparts with only 16% expecting a pay raise.”


Let’s face it – we’re asking for too much pay. Of course, you may ask, who doesn’t want more of that moolah? I agree that’s normal. But why are we so grossly greedy compared to other countries? Our expectations are just obscene, and they will hurt us if we don’t do something about them.

One consequence of this is already happening. There’s an increasing propensity on the part of employers to hire expats from countries such as China and India. Some people, such as Adam Khoo, has even gone so far out as to predict that they will ‘rule’ Singapore in a decade or so. It’s easy to see why. Their salary expectations aren’t Singapore-style exorbitant. Their humility and willingness to learn are values which are largely deficient in the current generation of youth, and many demand instant gratification for meagre work they have done without being able to truly understand the virtue of patience and the need to sow the seeds but reap the harvest later. Can Singapore truly remain competitive if our people don’t start learning some humility from these foreigners? I don’t think so.