According to the Straits Times, the number of PMEs joining a peer-support programme has been rising steadily over the year, with about 100 PMEs now who are of an average age of 48 years. Key industries such as the retail, marine, oil and gas, and foreign financial sectors are badly hit by the latest recession and the trend of an increasing number of retrenchments will continue this year to even the next year. 

Losing a job that one has been working for umpteen years can be devastating especially when one has several commitments in life such as being the sole bread winner in the family, a family member falls sick and require funds, or when one is heavily in debt after not receiving income.

It is usually the middle-age group who has more family commitment and responsibilities in life due to housing and car loans, caring for elderly and children, education for children, insurance premiums, medical expenses, etc. And losing a job can affect the psychological well-being of a person,...

Recently there seems to be a surge of retail chains closing down in Singapore, such as the recent case of California Fitness closing down suddenly, leaving its employees and customers surprised. A month ago, it was reported that 1 Market by Chef Wan at Plaza Singapura closed down after dwindling food standards by the chefs, and 77th Street is to close by end July. Even bigger and established retail chains are having closing down sales and they too are unable to survive in this economic climate.

For business owners-to-be who thinks that starting a retail business is a good alternative, consider the few factors that are killing retail businesses here first:

- Increasing rental in retail space

- Lack of talent

- Lazy consumers who prefer to shop online thus reduces traffic to stores

- Consumers are spoilt for choice with so many options, it is difficult to have loyal customers these days

- The purchasing funnel for new-age consumers have changed, which includes researching, comparing and...

Instead of taking cliche pictures while donning the graduate gown and holding a bouquet of flowers or teddy bears, this daring Singaporean graduate who graduated from a prestigious university in Singapore took pictures of herself holding up signs "Graduate for hire" and "Hire me leh". The depressing graduate shoots are just to "keep it real" and graduation to her means unemployment and impending bankruptcy, as she cited in her Facebook post.

The overall unemployment rate as of 2015 stands at 1.9%, which is an annual average of 62,500 unemployed residents. We are expecting higher unemployment rate here in 2016-2017, due to the declining economic status. As such, fresh grads could experience increased difficulty in securing a job of their choice. University fees are increasing over the years, but there is no correlated increase in salary. With the recent government's emphasis on skills-based training, would taking a degree be a priority these days then?

Before, a degree is a pas...

According to the recent article on Straits Times, "Too early to say if Singapore will benefit from Brexit", banks are considering moving out of London either to focus on the Asia Pacific business or due to the uncertainty in Britain. Singapore seems to be an attractive financial hub in APAC due to its business competitiveness serving mainly the South-East Asian market and being independent from China has its advantages against Hong Kong. 

Economically, Singapore might experience benefits when banks relocate here, however, with relocation, comes the influx of foreign talent. With the decline of the pound, local employers may benefit from luring talent even with slightly lower salaries. However, on the social standpoint, given the current economic downturn and the decline of certain industries, locals are in a challenging position to obtain stability in the career of their choice, some may perceive this as a threat. However in the contrary, with the relocation of banks to Singapore,...