SINGAPORE: As the 2020s approached their halfway mark, one Singaporean couldn’t help but reflect on how life unfolds.
On Tuesday (Jan 21), he posted on the r/askSingapore forum, “Is it just me, or has life become increasingly more difficult every year since 2020? Looking back, things seem to have peaked in 2019.”
He pointed out that the downward trend began with the pandemic and lockdowns in 2020-2021, which turned life upside down. Then, there was non-stop news of company lay-offs ‘after Elon Musk started the mass lay-off trend in 2022.’
“Those who survive the lay-offs have a significant increase in workload,” he said. “[There’s also an] increasingly tight job market, with ghost vacancies being advertised in job portals, and an increasingly unreliable public transportation.”
He also mentioned that short-term contracts gradually replace permanent positions, and outsourcing jobs to cheaper countries has ramped up.
He noted that companies have also taken advantage of the challenging job market to reduce benefits. Work-from-home privileges have been revoked, salary increments and bonuses have been cut, and employees are asked to do more with less.
“Cost of living has tripled since 20 years back”
Several users in the discussion thread agreed that life has become more complex, but they believe the challenges didn’t start in 2020.
One user said, “Since 2008, my dude. In my old workplace, every December, during the D&D, our CEO would give a speech about the state of the business.
Year in and year out, it would be about how bad things are in the world, from the financial crisis to Trump 1.0 to the pandemic, to justify why no bonuses will be given. It’s all been bad news for millennials since they joined the workforce.”
Another commented, “I graduated in the early 2000s. I cannot recall a year when the news reported that the economy was doing well or things were looking good.
Housing prices were deemed high back then (thinking about it makes me chuckle), but it went from high to crazy to current lunacy. Cost of living has tripled since 20 years back.”
Others also argued that the tough times had nothing to do with the pandemic. They felt that life gets more complicated when you start working because you take on more responsibilities, face more pressure, and have higher expectations.
One user wrote, “Nope — you’re just getting older. Things are difficult as you age, just you’re now understanding what old uncles used to rant about ‘in my time Hor ….’”
Another remarked, “Welcome to adult life, son. It just gets worse from here…”
In other news, a Singaporean took to social media on Friday (Jan 17) to share his own take on how to monitor the cost of living in Singapore.
“If you want to know the cost of living in Singapore, observe the price of kopi-o kosong (just coffee, nothing else),” wrote Facebook user Daniel Tan. “This cup is $1.30,” he shared, attaching a photo of a mug of coffee.
Featured image by Depositphotos (for illustration purposes only)