Singapore PM Lee Speaks To Students at NTU Discussing What The ...

17.09.09

I would like to talk and focus on the longer term issues tonight. But before I go and talk about longer term issues, let me first talk briefly about one item which was not on your elevator just now, and that is the outlook right ahead of us, which I suspect is quite near the top of your minds.

            What’s the economy going to be like? What are the job prospects like for students entering the job market? I would say the economy for now has bottomed but from the bottom of the downturn, it is going to be a long hard climb to come back up. The stock markets have recovered, maybe faster than they should but the mood has been buoyant. The US economy has stabilized although major issues still remain unresolved. In Singapore, our economy has done quite well in the second quarter, and the third quarter looks not bad. Employers are hiring again, according to the NTUC. But I think the unemployment numbers will continue to go up somewhat for some time to come because that is the way downturns work. After output picks up, employment takes a while before it catches up again. New graduates are finding jobs even though it is probably taking them a bit longer this year. There are measures which the government has taken in the Resilience Package in the budget this year which is helping the job market and particularly helping new graduates to find jobs. For example, we have a programme to help employers to recruit fresh graduates as trainees and the government will pay part of their salary for training and for OJT. So I think if we look forward, the outlook is not bad. But please be psychologically prepared for a slow pick up and even for surprises. People talk about the V-shape recovery again, if you read the newspapers, but remember you may have two Vs put together and then it is a W shape recovery – up very fast but you may have a second dip. It is possible.

Source: eGov monitor

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