Abolish NS!

[makapaaa]

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=heading>Latest comments</TD></TR><TR><TD id=messageDisplayRegion width="100%"><TABLE style="WIDTH: 100%" cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top" align=left><TABLE style="WIDTH: 100%" cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top" align=left><TABLE class=Post style="WIDTH: 100%" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top" align=left>AbolishNSabolishNS
what are we defending for in Singapore ?
Our lively hood ? our education ? our future ?
Foreigners squeezed our NS Men out of business, squeezed out of jobs, squeezed out of university places.
We are even squeezed out of MRT trains and buses, squeezed out neighbourhood parks, squeezed out of heartland shopping centers, etc.
What are there left in Singapore to defend ? all invaded by foreigners whom we earlier identified at possible enemies in the 1970s and 1980s.
</TD></TR><TR><TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top" align=left>Posted by: AbolishNSabolishNS at Mon Mar 16 22:16:40 SGT 2009
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>March 16, 2009
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>Economy may shrink 4.9% <!--10 min-->
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Robin Chan
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The unemployment rate, which is rising, is set to go up to 4.4 per cent by year end. -- ST PHOTO: BRYAN VAN DER BEEK
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DESPITE speculation that the Singapore economy could get much worse, economists here do not expect growth to be lower than what the Government has already predicted for the year.
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March 09 Survey results
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</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>A poll of 20 economists and analysts by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in February showed that they have downgraded their forecast for growth this year to minus 4.9 per cent from minus 2.2 per cent last December.
This is right at the low end of the Government's forecast for the economy to shrink between 2 and 5 per cent this year.
Both Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew have warned that the economy could shrink by much as 8 per cent and 10 per cent respectively if exports continue to crash.
CIMB-GK economist Song Seng Wun said: 'It's still anyone's guess. For now we are keeping our fingers crossed that the second half, especially the fourth quarter of the year could see the rate of contraction narrowing to close enough to zero, perhaps even positive, which could narrow the full year growth figure.'
Mr Song noted that only the January data has been released so far. There will be more clarity on the direction the economy is heading in when export data for February is released on Tuesday.
The economists expect the economy to contract 8.5 per cent in the first quarter of this year, down significantly from their earlier forecast of 3.4 per cent in December.
For next quarter's growth, they expect the pace of contraction to slow to 6.9 per cent, and then to 4.6 per cent in the third quarter, before rebounding 0.5 per cent in the last quarter.
Citigroup economist Kit Wei Zheng said: 'There is some sense of stabilisation in the economy, but how much weight you want to put on a bottom for growth rates is a question mark.' 'In the past few months, we have seen a destocking process. Companies had overshot, so there has been a short-term rebound in production. But the sustainability of demand in the United States is still questionable.' For the first time, the survey also revealed economists' preliminary predictions for 2010. They expect the Singapore economy to rebound to 3.3 per cent growth next year.

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[makapaaa]

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>March 16, 2009
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>More S'pore grads jobless <!--10 min-->
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The number of degree holders who lost their jobs rose sharply to 14,800, or 21 per cent in December, up from 6,200, or 14 per cent a year ago. -- PHOTO: EYEB
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"-->MORE graduates have joined the jobless ranks as companies hit by the economic downturn shed workers.
The number of degree holders who lost their jobs rose sharply to 14,800, or 21 per cent in December, up from 6,200, or 14 per cent a year ago, according to the Ministry of Manpower labour market report released on Monday.
But the below secondary educated formed the largest group of unemployed residents at 21,300, or 31 per cent. Many of them were 40 years or older, making up 15,400 or 22 per cent of all unemployed residents.
'Consequently, long term unemployment for locals at both ends of the education spectrum more than doubled over the year. As at December 2008, 12,900 of the unemployed residents had been looking for work for at least 25 weeks, up from 8,700 in December 2007,' said MOM.
They formed 0.7 per cent of the resident labour force, higher than 0.5 per cent a year ago.
Fewer vacancies
There were 26,100 job vacancies in December, down by 27 per cent from September, and 30 per cent from a year ago.
Many industries reported fewer vacancies than a year ago. The major exception was community, social and personal services, supported by public sector hiring.
Together with higher unemployment, the seasonally adjusted ratio of job vacancies to unemployed persons fell for the fourth straight quarter to 51 openings for every 100 job seekers in December, said MOM. This is comparable to the level in December 2005.
Earnings down
Nominal earnings rose over the year by 2.4 per cent in the fourth quarter, lower than the 5.5 per cent in the preceding quarter. This cut the earnings growth in 2008 to 5.4 per cent over the 6.2 per cent in 2007.
After discounting for inflation which stood at 6.5 per cent in 2008, real earnings declined by 1.1 per cent for the year, after rising by 4 per cent in 2007.
Productivity falls
Dragged down by the contraction in output, labour productivity fell by 12 per cent in the fourth quarter, deeper than the 9 per cent drop in the earlier quarter. In 2008, productivity slid by 7.8 per cent, following the decline of 0.8 per cent in 2007.
'This reflected slower GDP growth and strong employment gains in the first half of 2008,' said MOM. The labour market is available on the MOM's website at http://www.mom.gov.sg/mrsd/publication.

 

[makapaaa]

And see how the Leeport refuses to state clearly how many Spore citizens kena!

 

[Watchman]

Correct !