The rankings ignore the fact that many of these are requisites of modern life and that things increasingly out of reach for the poor and "near poor" - education, health care, child care, housing and utilities - are the true determinants of a good, upwardly mobile life.
The problem is that the standard of living is ever changing so the yardsticks used previously is no longer accurate. The requisites of modern life is increasingly putting pressure on all of us, and many of which is a requisite for a typical normal life in the city, like education, health care, housing and utilities.For example without education, it's almost impossible to find a job to sustain yourself. Housing and utilities are definitely a must because in some countries, you may not even be allowed to sleep on the streets.
On the other hand however, the employers are also asking us to be "productive" by asking us to do more, for the same salary or less. Therefore, many will end up in the situation where they are working very long hours just to keep themselves at the near-poor or poor level. Some may even be stuck there because the long hours do not allow people to find time to further upgrade themselves.
Sticky situation? You bet. Solution? I doubt it will happen but there should be laws to prevent exploitation of workers, regardless of how much you earn. We must go back to the fundamentals. Do we work to live or live to work?
3 comments:
"Do we work to live or live to work?"
Some jobs you'll never do because they do not pay a living wage.
"She said one employer was offering $2,000 instead of the market rate of $1,300 to hire a Singaporean as a lorry driver to deliver pastries. But there were no takers, said Ms Jebal of non-profit group NuLife Care and Counselling."
http://ifonlysingaporeans.blogspot.com/2011/11/jobs-that-singaporeans-shun.html
There should be a minimal wage (or even just a guideline and not law), and a maximum working hours per week law.
Simple but unapplicable to Singapore, the most modern number 1 city in the world.
I agree with the minimum wage but I disagree with a maximum number of working hours per week as this will curtail profits for the businesses, which will indirectly affect our salary.
Instead I prefer that after a certain number of hours, it's mandated that there is overtime work. This will prevent exploitation of workers.
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