Hi there, I am teaching my nephew economics to help him prepare for his A level exams and I stumbled upon one concept which I decided to discuss with my nephew during our lesson this weekend since I did study it back when I was a student. It is called the Big Mac Index: a Big Mac is a fairly standardized product given McDonald's commitment to consistency. So it doesn't matter whether you walk into a McDonald's in Lisbon, Moscow, Taipei, Auckland, Los Angeles, Rio de Janerio or Johannesburg, a Big Mac is a Big Mac. You may find some items on the menu to cater to the local tastes, but their key, signature items are exactly the same no matter where you go in the world. However, the price of a Big Mac can vary widely: in 2021, the most expensive Big Mac can be found in Switzerland whilst the cheapest one is is Lebanon. We use this to explain simple economics principles - the Big Mac is a lot more expensive in Zurich because of other costs involved in producing that Big Mac, such as how much an average McDonald's employee is paid in a place like Zurich or how much that McDonald's restaurant has to pay in rent when occupying an expensive prime location in a shopping mall in Geneva compared to Beirut in Lebanon. But what is most interesting about the Big Mac Index is the way they measure how long the average person in each city has to work to earn enough to buy a Big Mac. Thus despite the Big Macs in Switzerland being so expensive, they are relatively cheap as both Zurich and Geneva make the top 5 in terms of how quickly an average Swiss person can earn enough to buy a Big Mac (10.7 minutes average); so compare this to their counterparts in Nairobi, Kenya who have to work 172.6 minutes (nearly 3 hours) just to buy a Big Mac there.
This begs the question: if the local population in Kenya is so poor that they find McDonald's prohibitively expensive, how do they stay in business in a city like Nairobi then? The answer is simple: inequality. There is a rich elite in Nairobi who can afford to enjoy the McDonald's experience and there are enough rich people (along with expatriates and tourists) there to sustain the McDonald's restaurant even if it does come across as a luxury that few locals can afford. I like the way the Big Mac Index reveals that the Big Mac is actually cheap in Switzerland for the Swiss, as long as you're a local employed in Switzerland, earning wages locally in Swiss Francs and that it is not as expensive as it may have seemed - at least for the locals! My sister sits down next to my nephew when I have my tuition lessons with him on Zoom, I don't let my nephew take notes because I worry that when he writes a lot, he becomes passive and just treats it like a dictation exercise; so instead, he's not allowed pen and paper during the lesson, he has to look into the screen and do a lot of talking as I ask him a lot of questions whilst my sister does some note taking for him so he doesn't have to. So I asked my nephew work out just how many minutes they have to work in order to earn a Big Mac. My nephew has had a job working in a restaurant after his O level exams, so he does have a number he can use. The purpose of this exercise is to realize that the value of a Big Mac shouldn't be measured purely in terms of the price but the number of hours one has to work to pay for it. So I then asked him to compare my sister's situation to mine, given that my sister earns more than me.
So who is better off then? Most people would simply look at how much my sister earns and how much I earn and assume that she is better off, given that she earns more than me. However, when you work out how much her hourly rate is compared to me, then I come across as much better off - well, at least during pre-Covid times. The lifestyle I enjoyed was doing enough work to keep me financially comfortable whilst enjoying loads of foreign holidays: that has been impossible under the current lockdown conditions here in London and I've had very limited travel in 2020 compared to 2019 and 2018, when I thought I had finally achieved my ideal lifestyle with a very short work week and spending between 25% to 30% of the year abroad on holiday.Well obviously you know what happened with the pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns, but at least I am still getting a lot more sleep and leisure time than my sister, even if that leisure time is now spent gardening or watching Youtube videos instead of going on epic exotic adventures. But at least I am also saving more, so when international travel can resume later this year (fingers crossed), then I will be spending a lot more on my trips to compensate for the times I wasn't able to travel. In my sister's case however, one consequence about her long working hours is that even if she does earn a lot of money, she doesn't have the time to spend it on leisure activities. For example, back in 2019, she visited me in London for a few days as she already had to go to Holland for a business trip - so I told her to stay a few more days given that I have a spare room for her. She said that as much as she would love to, unfortunately she couldn't: there was just way too much pressure on her to get back to the office in Singapore as soon as possible. She marvels at the way I can take a month off for some of my epic trips, that just would not be possible for her.
A lot of young people want to become rich - I think there's nothing wrong with that kind of ambition, it serves as a great motivation to get up in the morning with a sense of purpose, to want to achieve something. But I do think an important factor one has to consider is the Big Mac Index: how long do you have to work to earn enough to buy a Big Mac? I actually worked out that despite my sister earning slightly more than me, it takes her slightly more than four times as long to earn enough to buy a Big Mac than I do, when you factor in her crazy long working hours. However, it's not like my sister has any choice in her working hours - when she accepted the job in her current company, she was more than aware of the working culture there and how many hours she was expected to put in if she accepted that job. I suppose how important this 'Big Mac Index' is to you depends entirely on your personal circumstances: I know of this friend from Russia - let's call him Yuri (not his real name), he managed to get a job in London and he didn't care or mind if he had to work 70 to 80 hours a week - he had a very poor family back in Russia to support. His elderly parents have medical bills to pay, his younger siblings and cousins are hoping to go to university and the extended family live in a very small house that is falling apart. His parents did make grand sacrifices to put him through university so he could access social mobility and have a brighter future so to repay them, he's willing to do whatever it takes to earn as much money as possible. Even if he had spare time, he wasn't interested in going out to do fun activities his with friends or taking a holiday - his only holiday destination was Russia when he would return to visit his family once a year. Hence for Yuri, he only cared about how much money he could send to his family and the number of hours he worked really didn't matter much to him.
By that token, I think there is some similarity between my sister and Yuri - after all, my sister has a son to provide for and I know that she has always put her son's needs before her own. I remember when we went skiing in La Molina in Spain, I was worried that my sister would begrudge me for taking them skiing because she achieved nothing at all - it just wasn't her thing at all. I'm afraid she just didn't have the kind of innate ability to balance one needs to learn skiing but my nephew made decent progress in two days and was able to make it down a green piste (the easiest kind of slope there is) by the end of the process, which is what I would expect of most people after skiing two days. My sister was nonetheless still happy with the outcome - she said to me, "as long as (my nephew) had some fun and made good progress skiing, that's all that really matters to me." That's how selfless she is as a mother so I suppose part of that mentality does affect her attitude towards the Big Mac Index - thus like Yuri, she doesn't mind how much she has to sacrifice, as long as she can provide for her family. Hypothetically speaking, even if you gave someone like Yuri a job like mine where you can earn a lot of money by working less than 20 hours a week, he would probably say, "wow that's great, now I can find a second job with all that extra spare time on my hands and earn even more money for my family in Russia." Heck, he is probably looking at me and judging me for being so lazy in refusing to put in more hours a week or take a second job with all that spare time. But then again, I suppose him and I are very different characters, with different priorities and goals in our lives and that is why we have made different decisions when it comes to our work life balance.
I will leave you with this challenge: work out what your personal Big Mac Index is. Firstly, look up the price of a Big Mac where you live then you need to work out how much you earn a month/week, then work out how many hours you work a month/week in order to extrapolate how much you earn per minute when you're working, then using that number, work out how many minutes you would have to work to earn that Big Mac at your local McDonald's. Ideally, that number should be as small as possible, it does tell us how productive you are and whether you're working smart or just working hard. What is your personal Big Mac Index then and are you happy with that figure? Okay so that's it from me on this issue - what do you think? Work out your personal Big Mac Index and leave a comment below, many thanks for reading!
A Big Mac costs about $6.40 in SG which is the delivery price. Every individual store has different pricing so I'll just use that price.
ReplyDeleteSo at my current wages i would need to work 16 mins in order to buy one Big Mac. This is too long. Contrast this with some of the senior paper pushers in our government would probably take a few seconds to make that amount. This is another good reason to get out of SG.
Aaaah I looked it up - it is around S$5.80 if you buy it in person in Singapore.
DeleteIt takes me about 12 minutes to earn a big mac on a PhD student stipend in the US (after tax). And if we compare that to Sg, it would take a typical PhD student 18 minutes to earn a big mac (no taxes on stipends here). That also reflects the cost of housing as well. I never had my own apartment in Sg, let alone a car, but in the US I could easily find a decent apartment without roommates for 2/3rds the price.
ReplyDeleteWell since you guys have mentioned some figures, allow me to share mine as well: I work in sales as you know so a lot of how much I earn is dependent on my commission. I was earning a lot more pre-Covid and 2020 was a difficult year for everyone, so I sold less and if I base this on my most lucrative years in the 2017-2018 period, my personal Big Mac index was waaaay under a minute, we're counting second here. But that was in the past, for 2020, it was about 3 minutes. As for what 2021 will bring, who knows. Probably about the same at 3 minutes or maybe a slight improvement.
DeleteBut Amanda is also right, the Big Mac index ignores a few things like taxes (I pay the most tax out of the three of us) as well as other things like the costs that we all have to face no matter where we are in the world like housing. Housing in America is cheaper because it is a bigger country that's not densely population, quite the opposite of Singapore. In America, you can simply choose to live in the suburbs and have a massive house - you'll just have to drive further to get anywhere. That option just isn't available in Singapore given how small the country is.
I'm surprised a student gets paid so much more in US than a full-time healthcare worker in SG. But we are too underpaid (compared to Western developed countries) which is why the government is giving everyone a pay increment this year (https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/budget-2021-healthcare-workers-to-get-pay-rise-for-their-exemplary-commitment).
DeleteContrast that to a CDC paper pushers who earns 50k per month and you can see how out of whack everything in SG is. https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/pritam-singh-questions-roles-cdcs-says-singaporeans-find-mayors-salaries-outrageous
Another point to consider for Singapore wages is CPF which i have not yet deducted. It would take about 19 mins for me to earn 1 Big Mac if I had deducted 20% off my wages for CPF.
DeleteWell technically speaking, the Big Mac Index is rather blunt as it looks at earnings without consider taxes (and other deductions like CPF for you and national insurance for me), it is simply used to illustrate a few basic principles of economics.
DeleteOh I forgot to mention my stipend is on the high end of American universities. But student salaries even if lower in other places would be calculated based on cost of living. Someone in Alabama would be paid 1/3rd of my pay, but their rent and food costs are about half as much, and they would pay $0 in taxes compared to about 10% for me.
DeleteBut you're right Choaniki, many educated professions are underpaid in Sg. A PhD student in Sg makes more than an electrical engineer with a bachelor's degree in industry which is ludicrous. Imagine how much more they would make compared to other roles at a big manufacturing company like non technical roles, or technicians who only have a poly diploma. I'm pretty sure the same situation happens in healthcare. My physiotherapist who I chatted with over 10 weeks while nursing my ankle injury mentioned he knew of a lot of poorly paid foreign nurses in Sg, who would bunk together 6 people in a rented room because that's all their salary could afford. At that rate these nurses should just go to Australia where they have a health worker shortage, and most average citizens would never condone a law where the minimum wage doesn't apply to everyone.
Btw I forgot to mention the PhD student in Singapore if a local (not international) already has their CPF deducted from the analysis I did. They also get 2000sgd for a new laptop (I don't even get that, and as a greencard holder I count as a local American). In fact Sg universities use this to entice bright local students. If I compare with what the international students get (which is also tax free, but no CPF from the school), then they would need to work 20 minutes to earn a big mac. But NUS/NTU/SUTD are only paying locals extra because they don't want the talented locals to go to the US/UK for their studies instead, since that will decrease their local university rankings if they get stuck with the worst students, who do the bulk of the research. The healthcare workers in Sg don't have such an easy entryway to the west and competing employers as a bright Singaporean who wants to pursue their PhD studies. It kinda makes me think if it was easier to immigrate to the west then rich but low wage countries like Sg would have to reduce their gini coefficient or suffer a brain drain.
Delete@Amanda I'm sure you know that the low wage work only applies to certain industries. Due to this (stupid) tripartite agreement with so-called unions, companies, and the government, wages are tightly controlled to lower (labour) costs for companies.
DeleteHowever i would like to see this agreement applied to the civil servants and politicians. Why do the private sector employees have to go for lifelong learning which also necessitates starting from the bottom (while earnings less than peanuts) when switching industries while these self-proclalimed natural aristocrats get to parachute into top positions at various companies (no skills upgrading required too).
/end rant
@Choaniki what you're describing happens in most countries, not just Singapore. In America after the great recession, many people in their 40s-50s went back to university to retrain and ended up with 1000s or even 10s of 1000s in debt in order to retrain to switch industries. Some of it worked out, some of it didn't, but overall there was no assistance from the government in retraining. Meanwhile the very wealthy had their personal connections from Harvard/the Ivy league to find management positions elsewhere. The older I get the more I realize how important networking is, which is probably why I'm required to attend and present at scientific conferences every year. But yeah there is a class system, its just in other countries the government cannot participate in this sorta cronyism or else be voted out, but its not just an Sg government thing since it can occur in the private sector.
DeleteI kinda wanna ask @Alex's view of this issue of retraining. It seems to me that a scientist/engineer/lawyer/politician is given more leeway in changing industries (no need to even get a new degree) than someone who works in retail or IT. The assumption seems to be that the former is more adaptable and received broader training than the latter. Alex, if I applied to work in your industry as a backroom person who codes all day, would I be more welcome than someone who has 10 years in the industry as an IT worker?
Hello guys, sorry I had been busy in the last couples of days, dealing with some stuff at work - but since Amanda has asked me a question, it's my pleasure to answer. On the issue of retraining, I think every employer will want to see two things: a) transferable skills and b) a willingness to adapt/learn on their own rather than relying on others. I am really cynical of older people retraining when they're older, racking up tons of debt in the process. Let me tell you why I am so freaking cynical of them.
DeleteNow I recall this time during one of my lessons with my nephew, we were looking at a case study from South Korea and the question was about the case study, my nephew didn't know the answer (look, I have a rule, I don't scold him if he doesn't know the answer or gets it wrong - that's too fucking Asian, I never do that, never), so he tried and got it wrong. When I pointed it out to him that he was wrong, he used the excuse, "my teacher never taught me about South Korea." I was fuming but I had to try my best to keep my cool because I fucking hate that shitty attitude, that's so freaking Asian I swear.
The reason why I took such offence to my nephew's attempt to make an excuse is that you're not fooling anyone but yourself. Imagine if you were at an important exam, would it be acceptable to write, "I can't answer this question because the teacher never covered this topic in the classroom"? Hell no. If you did that, the examiner will not give you any credit for that, just a big fat zero for not even attempting to answer the question. As a working adult, you need to be prepared to deal with situations where you may not know the answer, where you are just thrown something you have never ever dealt with before but still expected to solve the problem. So today, I had a client ask me, "do you guys do promissory notes?" Did I say, "I don't know what that is?" I said, "let me check and I will get back to you shortly, please bear with me." I then approached 3 colleagues, the first one said "no not my department I don't know anything about it, I can't help you sorry." The second one said, "I don't know what that is, but let me help you find out", we then jumped on a call together with a third colleague who knew more about promissory notes and so colleague 2 actually demonstrated a fantastic attitude - she was willing to learn and grow from the experience whilst colleague 1 just wanted me to leave her alone (and not give her more work). So now colleague 2 and I both know a lot about promissory notes whilst colleague 1 is none the wiser. I want my nephew to have an attitude like colleague 2, but sadly, given his ridiculous excuses with the South Korean question, he comes across far more like colleague 1.
Part 2 coming up below.
When I wanted to go into banking, did I do a course or degree in banking or finance? Hell no, I just started applying for jobs and proved to employers that I am fucking brilliant, when you have someone as brilliant as me, I am a fast learner with a good attitude (like colleague 2 above), that kind of attitude is far more precious in the office environment than any degree from any university, even if it was from Harvard or Oxford. I'd rather hire a non-graduate with a great attitude than an Oxford graduate with a shitty attitude; having that good attitude is part of having the right vital social skills and that isn't a course at university you can take. Heck, you can be a top scholar from Harvard and still have as much charm as a smelly armpit and have no idea how to work with colleagues. I know colleague 1 is brilliant on paper when you look at her qualifications but damn her attitude sucks, she is not easy to work with compared to colleague 2. As a former gatekeeper, I can sniff bullshit and bad attitudes from a mile away; I also know how to recognize people with good attitudes.
DeleteLikewise, when I wanted to become an actor, did I spend 3 years on a crazy expensive course at some drama school to teach me how to act? Nah fuck that, I just declared, I'm the best actor there is around - I then just got on with getting far more acting work than these idiots who spent an insane amount of money training at these expensive drama schools. That's just the person I am, I hate courses and perhaps this is because I am cynical about teachers in general.
This probably because my parents are teachers and it is freaking insane you know, they are educationally subnormal, their IQ is so low they should be classified as disabled yet somehow they are still allowed to teach in a primary school in Singapore. That experience has taught me NEVER to trust a teacher, that it is always better to teach myself how to do something than to wait for a teacher to teach me. Of course, 99.999999% of teachers are more intelligent than my parents and thus my mistrust of teachers is unfair of course, but I am so used to just teaching myself whatever I need to know without waiting for a teacher to get round to giving me any attention. I am totally fluent in Spanish and that's 100% self-taught, who needs a teacher? Perhaps I'm still rebelling against my parents and my nephew's terrible attitude reminds me that a lot of Singaporeans are like that - so I am also rebelling against all that as well, that Asian aspect of my culture which I fucking detest.
Part 3 coming up below.
With all that in mind, I think it's stupid to retrain at great cost in your 40s and 50s because for fuck's sake, you're approaching the end of your working life! I intend to retire in my 50s, that's when I fucking STOP working and enjoy my retirement when I have accumulate loads of wealth and I am still healthy enough to do fun things like go for long holidays in beautiful places. If you had to spend a lot of money to retrain, then I should hope that you should be able to transition into a highly lucrative new career in order to make that investment worthwhile - but therein lies the problem: these people are not using their transferable skills to transition into a career that is similar enough to their old careers, they are going for something so radically different they need to acquire brand new qualifications. It make no sense to do a transition like that past your 40th birthday because you don't have enough working years to a) recoup your costs and b) climb that career ladder high enough in what little time you have left to become a senior expert in that field. These people are barking up the wrong tree, it makes no sense, they should have found a new career that requires far less training or no training at all whilst constantly teaching THEMSELVES loads of new stuff to adapt to their new role.
DeleteI don't have a single piece of paper qualification for banking, I never took a single course in my life - yet I taught myself everything I needed to know to become an expert and that has worked out really well because I believe that I am so much smarter than all the teachers who are teaching courses on banking/finance. My reasoning is that if these teachers are so freaking smart, why aren't they working in the industry themselves raking in the millions? Why are they settling for a modest salary as a teacher? Something just doesn't add up and that's why I stay the hell away from those courses and of course, my cynicism and distrust of teachers deters me from trusting them - you can blame my mentally disabled parents for that.
Disclaimer: whilst I recognize that my nephew's attitude totally sucks, I don't blame him for that. I think that's a consequence of his culture, his family, his school, his environment, his classmates, his teachers and his country. It doesn't change the fact that his attitude totally sucks and I am glad I am in a position to try to help. My nephew doesn't talk much, he's not talkative like me - once I sit down with you and start chatting, I can talk for ages but my nephew's so quiet. That's why I welcome the opportunity to help train his brain through these lessons and it is also a chance for us to talk, get to know each other better and interact over these tutorials - I know this is only for one year and then I won't be able to teach him after that. Yes I am venting my frustration on my blog with things out of my control like the way his culture his influenced him in a negative way and how fucking lazy his loser teacher is, but I am still very glad I have this chance to be a part of his life.
Delete@LIFT would you say that it was a mistake for me to retrain then? If I had remained my prospects in my previous company would have been bleak given that they specialise in money counting machines and everyone is going cashless plus casinos are closed or have no business due to covid.
DeleteIt's not for me to judge whether or not it was right or wrong for you to retrain - a lot of that will depend on a) how happy you are in your new career, b) how much joy and fulfillment it brings you by helping you achieve the things you desire (such as in moving to another country and of course c) how much you earn. Only you can look at those 3 categories and decide for yourself if you're truly satisfied with the outcome. I would think that retraining is a bold, big step - an easier step would have to simply moved into sales within IT, but then again, I don't know if you would be happy doing sales. It might not be your cup of tea.
DeleteOh and if I may get back to @Amanda, I don't think experience counts as much as attitude - as a gatekeeper I will find ways to find out what kind of attitude you have and if you have the right attitude, that trumps experience all the time. We want to look for good people who can join the company, grow with the company and add value to the work with do, that means spotting people with potential and a great attitude.
DeleteI would say for a) definitely better job satisfaction especially when a patient recognizes you and thanks you. b) would not have been possible for my previous industry. Unfortunately IT is not on the shortage list for most developed Western countries as im sure you know. I tried to get an intercompany transfer while in my previous company but the work permit was not possible to obtain. c) working for others won't make you much money, period. So I'm still haven't achieved ROI for my career switch.
DeleteBut 2 out of 3 is still a good score i would say. Sure beat staying in SG ranting at the PAP every 5 years.
Yeah I'm sure attitude matters more than experience, but would you really let just anyone apply for the job? I kinda think someone with a degree in engineering and 3 years working as a software engineer would be more likely to get an interview with you than a former McDonalds worker with a degree in art history no? The question I was asking was not really how someone would get the job after the interview, but what it would take to score an interview in the first place.
DeleteHi guys, some answers for you in response to your comments today:
Delete@Amanda: I go back to my nephew saying "my teacher hasn't taught me about South Korea in the class" - my response to that is simple: at your age, I expect you to know about South Korea by teaching yourself about the world. Reading loads of information from various sources, making yourself aware of the world, watching loads of documentaries online (hey what else is there to do in the lockdown). I know plenty about South Korea despite never having set foot in the country: but through reading, watching documentaries, K-pop, K-dramas, K-films, even attending a K-culture festival in London etc, I have taught myself plenty about South Korea and no teacher has ever sat me down in a classroom to say, "Alex, today we're going to learn about South Korea." A lot of Singaporeans do have that attitude, I remember an old friend from Singapore expressing an interest to learn French and I suggested self-study; she looked at me in confusion and then said, "no, I need to find a course, I need that structure, I need to be in a classroom to learn French."
It is this extremely passive approach that disgusts me, that I find abhorrent. It is excusable for very young children to expect this kind of spoon feeding - for them to go to kindergarten and for the teachers there to spoon feed them bits of information. But when you get into your late teens, for fuck's sake, no more spoon feeding, you're an adult, time to start learning like an adult. So the same way I expected my nephew to teach himself about South Korea, I do expect these older adults to teach themselves whatever they needed to know to make themselves relevant to an ever changing economy and keep themselves 'employable' (if not by the same company, by another company). I have done this for many years without ever retraining because of my deep distrust and cynicism about teachers. I think those adults who retrain have my nephew's attitude: they wanna sit down in a classroom for the teacher to spoon feed them information about South Korea. I think 5 year old kids can get away with that, I'm not letting my 18 year old nephew get away with that attitude - never mind working adults who are my age or older! It is way too fucking passive, it is behaving like a 5 year old kid and I don't approve of that. No way. Take some initiative as an adult and stop being so passive.
@Choaniki - my answer for you is coming up below.
Hi Choaniki, I think you've answered your question, remember there's no wrong or right answer per se, only one that you are happy enough with at the end of the day. I think it is so very important to have a pleasant work environment and feel like you can get along well with the people you have to work with. I have been in some tough work environments before and some very pleasant ones so obviously, speaking from experience, I would clearly prefer to work with people I like & can get along well with. Furthermore, if one of your aims is to move to somewhere like Canada and if that's number one on your priority list, then fulfilling that aim will bring you such joy that it will make everything worthwhile - everyone will have their own list of priorities and it is up to you to decide what is on your list. Finally, as for how much you earn - that depends more on how much you NEED to earn. In this post, I talked about my Russian friend Yuri who feels obliged to provide for his extended family back in Russia. So even if he earns a lot, it is never enough as he is trying to help even cousins, aunts and uncles etc who are all earning peanuts in the Russian countryside. Part of the reason why I am so comfortable financially is that I have no dependents, my parents have a generous state pension and because they were so good at saving (and not spending on their children), they have far more money than they need so they are financially independent. I have no children and never will have any children, so that makes it easy for me to accumulate even more wealth. Whereas in my sister's situation, she earns more than me but spends so much on her son, so she doesn't accumulate wealth the way I do. So this really depends on your personal situation and priorities.
Delete@LIFT sometimes having a teacher helps when you are a rank amateur. Like e.g. i was asking you about "je suis" vs "je m'appelle". Having lots of internet resources is good but the problem now comes from information overload. How will a complete beginner be able to tell which is a reputable source vs fake news? This is also why there is an increase in flat-earthers and anti-vaxxers.
DeleteTo be fair @Choaniki, how much you need a teacher depends on how far you have strayed from your comfort zone. I taught myself Spanish to a very, very high standard because I already am fluent in French and thus that gave me a good basis to figure out Spanish given the similarities amongst all Romance languages with shared Latin roots. But you had stepped quite far out of your comfort zone with French, so you needed some help - mind you, I figured out basic French pretty much on my own and skipped all the beginner's lessons at Alliance Francaise, starting at intermediate level. They get people who have done some French at school before going to them, so they make you take a test of ascertain the level of your French before deciding which class is right for you. Yes I could have self-studied it all the way but having a teacher to spoon feed you information is an easier way to do the learning: the teacher explains stuff to you rather than you having to figure out complex stuff for yourself. Of course it is easier to have someone explain difficult stuff to you, but at some stage, one has got to start doing stuff for themselves. Sure I am dragging my nephew kicking & screaming through his A level economics syllabus, I can do that for him, but then what next? Do I have to do the same through his university? His first job? Second job? At what stage can I expect him to function like an autonomous adult who can figure out stuff for himself?
DeleteSometimes I think schools encourage passiveness because they want obedience. Obedience is useful in working life up to a point, but for the highest paying jobs you really have to think independently. We have a problem in academia where many people had a good GPA in undergrad but can't survive as a scientist when they finally have to come up with their own ideas and question the status quo instead of just waiting for a teacher to tell them what to do.
DeleteMy question was mostly about how welcome a janitor would be to apply for a job in banking. But you're probably not the best person to ask since you attended a prestigious university and have a CV that is purely white collar. Unless you have some interesting stories from the time you were a gatekeeper, anyone with interesting pasts that got the job? These retraining schemes by the Sg gov don't really apply to people like me and you. In my personal situation if I wanted to go to banking tomorrow I wouldn't try to show I have similar skills to bankers today, instead I'd show I developed some fancy new algorithms for science that I can adapt to trading and investments. But I have this opportunity to demonstrate my skills at work and get them on my CV, I don't think someone in retail or janitorial work can do the same. Unless a retail or janitorial worker picks up coding and contributes to open source software projects (e.g Linux) in their spare time. Though I dunno how realistic that is, since many computer science students can't even code well enough to make significant modifications to Linux, and they have had much more investment into their education.
However I think we've had this conversation before about your article "How can Vera get rich." I don't think you were against Vera retraining into law per se, instead you argued that unless she got into a top university it's doubtful a good law firm will even hire her. It's the last part that make retraining schemes by the Sg gov seem futile. I think because I've worked in technical jobs all my life compared to someone like Vera who has a spotty CV, people are more willing to give me a chance than her regardless of what qualifications we have. I mean at this point I'm still a grad student so me and Vera effectively have the same level of education (bachelor's), but I have a more consistent CV.
And a second point if I may Choaniki - the issue you raised about a complete beginner is not a valid one because you're not taking into account a very important factor: intelligence (for want of a better word). Let's use myself for example, I don't claim to know every subject under the sun and if you were to take me way out of my comfort zone and force me to learn something that I have zero experience with, then I still will be able to tell the difference between a reputable source vs fake news. One thing that I am stressing to my nephew when I am his teacher is that the actual content we are studying is not important, but the learning process is. So I have a new rule - no writing, no notes allowed. That jolts him right out of his Singaporean student mode and forces him to engage more like an adult. The purpose of a university education is not to fill your head with facts, but to teach you how to function autonomously when having to learn something very quickly. In university, I picked my own topics of research, do my own research and then showcase my findings & conclusions in a thesis - this is a highly independent process, a far cry from the kind of hand-holding and spoon-feeding we get in primary school. Can I remember the content of my course at university from 1997 to 2000? Hell no, I have forgotten it all. But what I do take away from it is the ability to figure something out, do independent research, find the information I need and make sense of a topic that I know little about - so the next time my boss makes me handle an issue that I know nothing about, I won't go into panic mode and resign: I calmly say, "leave it with me, I will figure it out", even if I am a rank amateur dealing with a topic that I know nothing about. I am very good at learning new stuff without a teacher thanks to the framework and structure my formal education has given me, even if I have forgotten 99.99% of the actual content of the course I studied. I still have that mastery of that process of acquiring information on a topic I know little/nothing about.
DeleteHaving said that, I was a scholar at a top British university, of course I am bloody brilliant when it comes to things like that - they don't give out these scholarships to stupid people, only the geniuses. I have dealt with stupid people before like my parents and they are the kind of idiots who can't tell the difference between a reputable source and fake news. But the only reason why they can't tell that difference is because of their stupidity - they can read information but they won't understand it not because they haven't attended a class with a teacher, but they simply don't have the mental capacity to process very complex information that requires critical thinking. That's why I point out that anything beyond a primary school syllabus is totally confusing for them - they are limited by their stupidity. I'm trying hard to push the boundaries with my nephew: I don't know if he is plain stupid like my parents or if he simply hasn't been forced to do critical thinking yet because the Singapore education system is crap. Perhaps I am biased, I am assuming it is the latter so it is worth me trying rather than just dismissing my nephew as plain stupid and incapable of critical thinking.
Hence it is not a question of whether or not you have enough information or too much information, it's a matter of whether you're smart enough to make sense of it all WITHOUT the help of a teacher. Now a scholar & genius like myself (modesty aside) will have no trouble handling this process because we have done all that at a top university already; that's one of the key purposes to a university, to teach people how to learn (rather than cram their brains with knowledge). Whereas an uneducated idiot like my mother cannot do that, she hasn't been pushed to do much thinking beyond what is on the primary school syllabus - thus she gets very confused when presented with facts as she doesn't know how to make sense of that information, she is completely inexperienced on that front.
DeleteSorry if I am pointing out the obvious: but there's a massive difference between highly intelligent geniuses and totally uneducated idiots when it comes to being a complete beginner tackling a steep learning curve. The highly intelligent genius will have tools to climb that learning curve very quickly and efficiently, whilst the idiot wouldn't even make it onto the first step.
In short, there's a difference between geniuses and idiots. I know that's stating the obvious of course, but you seem to have treated everyone as if there is no difference between smart and stupid people. Of course the world is full of fucking stupid people, it is the luck of the genetic lottery and some people are born with very low IQ but some of us also win the genetic lottery and have a much higher IQ than average. As for flat-earthers and anti-vaxxers? I guess they lost the genetic lottery, some people in this world are stupid. Should I need to inform you of this fact or is that something we all already knew?
@Amanda further education is dependent on skills like critical thinking and analysis, which is why some uneducated people don't make it far in the education system, they end up in McDonald's making burgers: they simply follow instructions when they make the various burgers whilst they will never be promoted to the ranks of the senior executives who are taking critical strategic business decisions. This is why I am pushing my nephew so hard because I want to see if he can develop such skills before he is consigned to a job (like making burgers in McDonald's) where he merely follows instructions obediently.
DeleteAs for your question about a janitor applying for a job in banking, well let's put it this way: what has he got to offer? Is there anything on his CV that will make his CV stand out? I'm not a charity, I'm not here to promote social mobility, I'm not here to help some poor sod who has had a hard childhood and thus never got the benefit of a good education. No, my role in the business world is that I'm a greedy profit making bastard and will make decisions that will maximize profits - but within that context, it means selecting the best people for the job, the people with the right skills and attitude to succeed. So if the janitor has to get my attention first because like I said, I'm NOT a charity, I'm not obliged to help him but I am willing to give him a chance to impress me and if he can do something fucking amazing to impress me (I'll keep that fairly open what he could do to achieve that), then yeah sure, I'll sit down and have a chat with him but make no mistake, when there are 1000 people applying for the same job and I'm no mother Theresa, I'm looking for the most outstanding, impressive badass motherfucker for that job and if that janitor can do something to impress me and get my attention, then I'll pick him over everyone else but first he has to blow my mind by seriously impressing me with something truly exceptional.
This is a hypothetical question of course. If this guy was so fucking exceptional, why would he be a janitor in the first place? Not unless he was a brilliant scientist in Syria or Afghanistan but was force to flee because of the war and worked as a janitor as he learnt English blah blah blah. Fucking exceptional people do not end up in terrible jobs but since you've asked a question (even if it is an unusual one) I thought I'd try to answer it.
Y'know @Alex its a dirty secret that many PhD holders end up driving for uber or working at McDonalds. There was a post-doctoral researcher who liked to scare me with these stories when I was in undergrad. At any point in time nobody is entitled to success. Just getting a degree is not enough in many cases.
DeleteBy that token retraining schemes by the SG government won't be an overnight success haha, but that's probably common sense. There are no quick and easy fixes to any career, let alone the economy. It makes me think in the case of this hypothetical janitor who for some reason was dealt a very bad hand of cards early in life, to get into banking they probably have to go through some other in-between job which while not as prestigious, is higher up than janitorial work. So maybe they took some computer science classes at the local community college in nightschool and got a job in IT. Then through the same IT company they got to work in some sales, and closed some large deals. Only then would they be able to apply for a job in banking with a decent chance, especially using the sales experience. But by that point they aren't a janitor anymore, and nobody would even care if they were.
@LIFT i think you are just stating the obvious: university is teaching you how to learn rather than the actual topic of your major.
DeleteSince I did my first tertiary qualification in SG and the 2nd from UK i can compare the stark differences between them. In contrast to SG, the UK lecturers don't tend to spoon-feed you. It is sink or swim, so if you don't approach them for help they will assume you are ok and if you submit a sub-standard piece of work, be prepared to fail. I don't really want to comment too much about the SG method of teaching since I will have many haters. Let's just say that it accomplishes a major goal, which is to produce productive workers for SG Inc.
@Amanda a genius won't stay in a low paying job for long. Let me present to you William Kamkwamba who built a wind turbine for his village while being completely untrained. He was offered a scholarship to study his undergraduate in the US of A. I'm sure without a degree his CV but itself would be sufficient to find many engineering jobs. Of course there are exceptional cases like highly educated people never living up to their full potential (I'm sure LIFT knows such a person) and lost Einsteins in developing countries who starved to death before they had a chance to shine.
Hi guys, some replies for you!
Delete@Amanda, yeah I know of PhD holders who did something so freaking niche they can't find employment and end up doing terrible, low-paid jobs. I call it 'digging your own grave' because they imagined that just because they were good at something or that they knew a lot about a topic that somehow it would lead to them being able to make a living from it - that's not true of course. You need to have a skill which is in demand - which is a major reason why someone like Choaniki is in a very comfortable, secure position as he is in the healthcare industry and his skills will always be in demand even if he doesn't have a PhD. It's the law of supply & demand as opposed to "who has the fanciest title".
And yes Amanda, if someone had a compelling 'rags to riches' story, I would find that very interesting and impressive indeed. That would work well in terms of impressing me.
@Choaniki my point is simple: if you gave someone like me a steep learning curve to climb, ie. you want me to learn a topic I knew nothing about, I would have no problems whatsoever distinguishing legitimate knowledge from fake news. At university, you would be trained to substantiate any facts, figures, report etc that you wanna quote in your research - you can't just Google something and slide it into your report, you have to go out of your way to make sure it is 100% legitimate and from a trustworthy source. Yes graduates (from decent universities anyway) have to do that as a matter of routine, but non-graduates don't - that's why they are stupid and gullible, falling prey to fake news all the time. So the fact that there is fake news out there isn't the problem per se, the problem is that some people simply aren't trained to look up the source of the information to verify whether it is true or not. That's why intelligent geniuses like me can just get on with teaching ourselves everything we need even in an environment where there is plenty of fake news whilst as for the stupid people like my parents, a Chinese saying comes to mind: 无药可救 yes they are stupid, yes they can't tell the difference between fake news and real news and they will always remain stupid. Heck, I don't want to have to be the teacher who has the task of trying to teach stupid students who are of that 无药可救 variety.
@Amanda getting a banking job is so easy even i can tell you how:
Delete1) Be so brilliant like graduating Oxbridge with 1st class honours and all the major banks will climb over themselves to offer you a job. In fact once you are in some banks even give you monthly retainer to entice you to never leave.
2) Have connections. This works in UK and SG. You might be an idiot without a degree but if your father knows a hedge fund CEO or is someone of influence (politician, etc) then getting a high paid banking job is so easy. Of course you will never end up being a quant but you will be given a high paid and easy job to prevent you from screwing up. Failing upwards works if you are from the correct social economic class (aka natural aristocrats by the PAP).
Yeah but its not just the PhD holders in some obscure liberal arts major who are ending up unemployed, its also people with a PhD in engineering, the natural sciences, or mathematics that can also end up driving for uber. The problem is especially pronounced in mathematics. These people may be brilliant at math and they could potentially use it to develop some trading algorithm or optimize shipping routes for FedEx to reduce delivery times, but some aren't willing to adapt their skillset to problems they haven't worked on or even talk about problems the company is interested in on their CV or interview. But this is true even in the liberal arts case, those graduates would have been very good at googling things and doing fact-checking between references, which are valuable skills. These liberal arts graduates just need to sell companies on these skills instead of talking about their thesis which nobody really cares about.
DeleteYeah a rags to riches story is impressive, but like you said you wouldn't use it to give someone a leg up over other applicants if they can't show they can do the job.
Btw just to go back to the Big Mac index, in Switzerland university is free or really cheap. I had a colleague who got into a masters program at ETH Zurich, and he said it was only 600 euros/semester, so he was able to pay for it using 2 years of saving up while working in Sg, and that was as an international student! But in the US university tuition is ridiculously expensive, even for locals, and even more so for international students. While the Swiss and American workers need to work the same minutes to earn a big mac, the Swiss worker is debt free while the American worker has on average 30k usd in student loans. In SG I'm not sure how much student loans people have, but it seems less than America since Asian parents will invest in their child's education.
Hi again guys. Here are my responses to your points:
Delete@Choaniki: absolutely, from the time they are in first year at Oxford, the Oxford students are already headhunted by many top firms including banks to sign a contract to be a part of their graduate training programme. The big firms compete with each other by throwing lucrative welcome bonus packages to persuade the undergrads to sign with them and not their competitors - but that's pretty much an Oxford and Cambridge only thing, it doesn't happen lower down the league tables. Then there's good old nepotism as well - but the fact that someone like me can get work in the banking industry means that anyone can do it if they are determined enough. You know what my parents are like so forget about nepotism and I wasn't offered a golden handshake - but somehow, here I am today.
@Amanda: then it is a problem associated with poor social skills. Nobody is going to pay you good money if you're smart, they are only going to employ you if you can add value and that means being able to work in a team to solve the issues faced by the company. I have covered this issue before in my blog actually: http://limpehft.blogspot.com/2018/08/why-do-some-brilliant-students-suck-at.html?view=sidebar And you have hit the nail on the head: nobody gives a flying fuck about your thesis, tell me how you can make my company more money. It comes down to that - you realize that of course as you have excellent social skills but there are so many intelligent people out there with shockingly poor social skills making that same stupid mistake. Go figure.
@Amanda, didn't LIFT just mention his friend with a PhD who couldn't work any job except for low paying ones? I think you shouldn't be too concerned about paper qualifications. In fact i not sure if you even remember that SG had a Stanford PhD holder who was a taxi driver for awhile.
DeleteIf you want to be rich without qualifications maybe learn from Sheng Siong founders who used to be pig farmers (literally rags to rich). Or better yet the founder of Lau Gan Ma sauce. She is a self-made billionaire.
I don't think its a lack of social skills per se, I think its more like some people don't have a lot of experience when it comes to how business works because they have lived their entire lives in the education system. In the schooling system we just take for granted that the education system will reward us for being smart, and not for creating value in terms of optimizing shipping routes to save time and money, closing a large sale, etc. So people extrapolate from the school system to the working world because that's all they've ever known for 18+ years. But because I grew up with a dad who worked as an engineer in the oil industry, I was taught the opposite. I remember we did a science project together once when I was 16, and because I couldn't get the project to work my dad said to me "see, your A in A level physics is useless...absolutely useless..." I felt horrible, but it was a life lesson I needed to learn. People aren't gonna reward me for getting an A in physics class, instead they'll only reward me if I can get a project working and if someone is willing to pay for it. One thing I like about people outside academia who spent more time in industry is they learn this lesson quite fast.
Delete@Choaniki - eugh, I would describe this guy as a ex-colleague rather than a friend, I never liked him enough to use the word 'friend' to describe him. He had a PhD in some niche, weird, esoteric branch of literature which rendered him unemployable and ended up doing various terrible jobs - he knew one of the guys at my company then (we're going waaaaaaaaaay back to 2004) and so he tried doing sales for a few months but left after he failed to meet his sales targets; he wasn't cut out for sales at all, so he then stuck to more straightforward jobs where you simply follow instructions (ie. making burgers at McDonald's). I won't be surprised if he was still doing that today.
Delete@Amanda: oh I do think it's a lack of social skills. It's this lack of taking initiative to find out what you need to know. Just look at my family, my parents know nothing about the world beyond the primary school gates, yet I found out everything I needed to know about the business world in order to have a career in banking. I don't believe in excuses - that's why I got angry when my nephew tried to give me an excuse in our lesson by claiming that the teacher never taught him about South Korea. You're trying to give these people who don't have a lot of experience an excuse and I'm like tough shit, they need to get the experience and knowledge they need. I got no help, ZERO help, yet I figured it all out for myself because writing "my teacher never taught me this, please give me full marks, thanks" on an exam never works in real life.
I'm using the term 'social skills' to include a whole range of life hacks including having a good attitude, recognizing that no one is going to give a flying fuck about our excuses and if no one is gonna help me, I'm gonna have to help myself and get what I need to get ahead in my life. Perhaps you can think of a better term than that?
Yeah I think a better term is just being "wise." I dunno which Greek philosopher said that the wisest person was one who admitted they didn't know everything. Anyway I think its good you're teaching your nephew good habits, particularly 1) he may not know everything, and 2) if he doesn't remedy this it is his fault. If not from you then he will have to learn the hard way in the working world or by himself.
DeleteExactly. It is this transition from being a child to being an adult that's difficult for all young people. A young child at the age of 6 can have an excuse to know nothing about South Korea but by the time you get to 18, you run out of excuses and if you still know nothing or little about South Korea, then tough shit you're ignorant and it is your responsibility to fix it. It may sound harsh but I think I'm one of the few people who treats my nephew like an adult, everyone else is guilty of treating him like he is 12 and that's not helpful. I may be harsh in this aspect but I'm being the most helpful here. Whether he likes it or not, he is already an adult as he has turned 18.
DeleteSocrates quote,
Delete"One thing only I know, and that is that I know nothing."
"我唯一知道的是我什么都不知道"
It is tough here in Singapore. The education is conducted through one way traffic teacher to student, no asking. Asking is seems to be a challange. Helping out others including teacher may belittle others. Gei kiang, don't act smart. We do not have ask and interact culture, which leads to poor social skills and misunderstanding. A win win for all using communication seems to be only getting negative results in a poor society.
DeleteOne person would need to have discipline to lead a meaning life.
To be a responsible person, he would have to learn how to find, ask and solve answers. Given with internet resources, alot of help are available. That is why so many brilliant talents join in this science and technology industry instead of politics and businesses.
"Sophia's world" would be a good book for one to understand western culture and history, which our current modern education system structure is based on.
"What life should mean to you" and "The road less travelled" are two good books for soul health enlightenment.
Life is not a easy road for all, one is consider lucky if he is able to meet one or two persons to help him out and make progress. The rest would be from good books.
Oh wow I didn't know your nephew just turned 18. It feels like only a few blogposts ago you were writing about a 14 year old or even a 12 year old nephew. I just hope this advice is useful in NS. I doubt his commanding officer is always going to be understanding and nice, and he'll have to think fast to survive.
Delete@LIFT Maybe street smarts is a better term to use than 'social skills'. Since it could involve stuff that don't involve socialising. Like figuring out how to apply for a passport, self-checkin at an airport, take an MRT train, etc (which I bet your parents might have problems navigating).
DeleteHi guys, a few points for you guys in response to your comments.
Delete1. The education system in Singapore is totally geared towards getting the student to score good grades whilst disregarding any kind of development of street smarts or social skills - many people assume that's something that will automatically happen when you throw a bunch of kids together, they will start interacting, playing and develop friendships naturally. The fact is that will happen with some kids but not all kids: I remember in my primary school how some kids often played together whilst other kids were isolated, kept to themselves and were loners. The problem with this generation is that the loners can now retreat into their electronic devices and get plenty of entertainment there to deal with the boredom, but it doesn't change the fact that they still have no friends and that's just going to be a problem that will come back to haunt them when they try to find work.
2. Oh yeah my nephew has celebrated his 18th birthday in early 2021 already. I have been blogging for 10 years so when I started this blog and mentioned him, he was just 8 years old then. I don't believe in giving "advice" because I think that's lazy parenting. What I'm doing is developing a skill set he lacks through the lessons by making him solve problems on the spot and he now knows that he would have to come up with the answers rather than just quote his notes and textbooks. We have a 'clear table' policy: no books, no pens, no notes, only a cup of water is allowed to be on the table, strictly no writing and it's a 100% full on tutorial.
3. Yes 'street smarts' is a very good term - I like that. Oh gosh, don't get me started on my parents and navigation, they get lost even within Singapore and panic easily.
*If I may elaborate on point 2 please Amanda, let me tell you why I am so cynical about parents giving their children 'advice' - imagine we have a really fat kid. Parent 1 believes in giving advice, so the parent sits the child down and talks about diet, nutrition, health and exercise. Loads of valuable information, the child listens, then chooses to ignore the advice and stuffs his face with KFC, chocolates, ice cream and washes it all down with milkshakes. So much for advice.
Delete2. Parent 2 has a hands on approach: the parent takes the fat kid out hiking every weekend to some beautiful spot in the countryside, so they are having some fun in the great outdoors, seeing some outstanding scenery and they are faaaar from the nearest McDonald's, so the parent only packs healthy snacks for them on the way. The parent knows that this kid is fat because he doesn't respond to 'advice' so the parent has to drag the kid out to go hiking in the mountains and then eat carrots on the mountain top to make the kid lose weight. Which approach is going to be more beneficial for this fat kid then?
That's why I don't believe in giving advice. Oh I remember years ago I had a colleague who was a chain smoker - she smoked so much and I could give her advice about her health but then again, what's the point of advice? She knows she is gonna get lung cancer, she knows it is damaging for her health - would she listen to my advice when she already knows the consequences of her smoking? No, that's why I chose to stay away from giving her health advice - she was just a colleague, it was her decision to smoke, I wasn't close enough to her to intervene even if she did get lung cancer one day. That's why I react like that when people talk about 'giving advice' - it's quite a different matter when someone comes to me and asks me, "Alex, could I get your opinion on something please?" Then if they ask for the advice, I know I have some power of influence in that case - but my nephew has never ever once asked me for advice once, never in his life. Never ever. I can only help by bludgeoning him through a process like economics or skiing - I believe in the kind of parenting where I don't give advice, but drag the fat kid up a mountain on the steepest hiking trail.
Oh and you and I are both autistic, we both struggled with social skills when we were younger - as if some 'advice' could solve the problem. We both know it isn't that simple, right? There's a lot that my nephew has to figure out for himself (the same way I did years ago) and I actually did a lot of that in the army. In order to learn how to swim, you have got to get out of the shallow end of the pool and be in water so deep that your feet can't touch the bottom of the pool - that's when you start kicking with your legs and start making the right actions to swim. That's exactly what the army will be like for my nephew. Ironically, I'm probably more optimistic about it than most of my family.
I never believed in giving unsolicited advice to anyone. At best you end up sounding obnoxious and at worst you end up as the naggy, know it all uncle.
DeleteBesides if the internet and post-Trump era has taught me anything, it is that it is literally impossible to change someone's mind. So why bother to antagonise them and end up with both parties unhappy? Just live and let live. If the other party wants to change their point of view (has to be initiated by the other party) only then will i give my point of view.
Exactly Choaniki you have hit the nail on the head - I experienced that years ago with my colleague who was a heavy smoker. I knew I could never change her mind about smoking, so I just avoided the topic. But if given the opportunity, I would do the equivalent of "drag the kid up the mountain on a hiking trail" by engaging in an activity with my nephew (be it teaching him skiing or having weekly tutorials with him about economics), then that way, I am actually actively involved in doing something more than just "giving advice". Either I give no advice, or I do an activity with my nephew that will benefit - but like Choaniki, I always refuse to give advice to people. Don't even go there.
DeleteI would compare it to giving advice to a child trying to how to swim: no no no, either you have a hands on approach and take the child to the pool every week for swimming lessons (or at least pay for some swimming lessons with a good coach there) or you shut the hell up. You can't teach a child how to swim by talking him through it, the child needs to be in the water first. That's why I refuse to give my nephew advice about national service because it will be totally futile, as futile as trying to teach him how to ski far away from the nearest snow.
DeleteI guess the moral of the story is that some things have to be experienced to be learned.
DeleteOn an unrelated note, it seems the UK and the US are vaccinating their people very quickly. We could be out and about by May with the current predictions. Though the UK is a bit low on 2nd dose vaccinations(<2%) while the US is a bit higher (8%).
Retraining starts for new graduates at age 20s.
ReplyDeleteUpgrading training courses to be certified cleaners.
Now they even have courses to be professional hawkers.
Waiting for them to conduct courses to be hookers.