In one sentence, the general skill of the population has risen sharply, and so has the number of those who are unemployed. They could, for example, encounter a taxi driver who can rationalise currency fluctuations or advise on promising stocks to invest in because he is a retrenched broker or a former corporate manager.

At Sim Lim Tower, the scrawny-looking computer salesman could have a diploma in electronic engineering and would be able – if willing – to advise on the latest free software.

The same well-educated people could be seen in many parts of the city selling anything from water chestnuts and soft toys on a pushcart to a million-dollar condo or a complex insurance policy.

Graduates give private tuition, teach swimming, operate photo studios and provide many other everyday services.

At the higher levels, Singaporeans (or Permanent Residents) repair jumbo jets, separate Siamese twins, do research on stem cells and work on other high-tech projects.

This transformation has become apparent because more and more people have emerged from institutions of higher learning during the past decade.

As the global economy got tougher and jobs fewer, the response of the citizens has been an explosive, costly investment in higher learning for their children – not a pullback.

Many parents, who only went to secondary school themselves, have dug deep into their pockets to send their children for higher studies locally and abroad.

They include the economically hit who take up bank loans to do it.

The statistics tell the story. With a birth rate of only 34,000, Singapore has sent 22,000 youths to university a year – 12,000 locally and 10,000 abroad.

They do not include post-graduate students or enrolments in polytechnics for a three-year diploma course.

Yesterday, the new campus of Singapore Management University (SMU) – the state’s third – was completed at a cost of more than S$400mil.

However, some 20% to 30% of the students are foreigners, the majority of whom end up working and becoming PRs here.

Of the 10,000 Singaporeans who sign up in foreign institutions, some 6000 go to Australia; most of the rest choose the United States and the United Kingdom (1500 each).

It’s not hard to explain this academic rush. Smallish Singapore without natural resources has always viewed its people as its only economic asset.

The government helped shape it by offering scholarships and civil service jobs or political appointments to bright students.

The culture is prevalent. Since my early reporting years here, Singaporeans of all races have been capable of extreme sacrifice when it comes to their children’s education.

I remember going to the public libraries and finding all the seats taken by tiny tots accompanied by their grandparents, who would sit staring at them for hours as they read storybooks.

The impact has become highly visible today.

“You can safely assume almost every Singaporean between 18 and 24 is a student in a tertiary institution,” said a businessman in transport. “Throw a stone and you’ll probably hit a graduate.”

More grads also means more unemployed grads. It is also causing disaffection against the government.

Statistics in June 2004 showed 103,000 residents unemployed, of which some 18,000 (about 17.5%) were graduates and 12,000 (11.6%) were diploma holders.

In 1998, only 16.5% of retrenched workers had a tertiary education. Today, they form 29% of the total unemployed.

The dislocation stems from migration of jobs from rich to poorer nations, as well as a huge intake of foreigners as PRs and citizens (about 30,000 a year) to top up a depleting population.

Almost every Singaporean has a sad tale to tell. After working five years in a foreign firm, the 30-year-old son of an old friend of mine was recently retrenched.

The mechanical engineer diploma holder, who was earning S$2400 a month, was replaced by a Permanent Resident from Myanmar with a master’s degree who was willing to accept S$1600 a month. He has since found a new job that pays some 20% lower.

Singapore's new generation is discovering something their peers in other countries had known long ago – that a university degree does not guarantee the good life.

The afflicted are getting a useful lesson of life in the real world where nothing is laid out for them.

As a result, some of them have developed self-reliance or gained first-hand experience in business or valuable experience in survival.

Thousands provide private tuitions, work as “temps”, or sign up contract work for a fixed period while waiting to land that permanent job.

“We’ve learned one thing. Life has to go on,” said an electronic engineer who has operated a photo service for companies after publishing his own book and holding his own exhibition. But life is still very tough.

Others have opened small spas or food outlets supplying imported food, or run clinics for pets.

Many have returned from abroad with business ideas they are prepared to try. Some failed miserably, a few have succeeded well enough to expand into franchises.

Educators with Western teaching skills have started kindergartens; IT engineers repair computers or provide software and web consultancy.

The “hub” concept involving high technical skills from foreign firms, media, health and education has increased jobs for graduates.

Recently, I encountered a firm that accepts multimedia assignments from global corporations, world TV networks and the Singapore government to produce PR or TV documentaries and magazines.

A local university will soon start a degree course to prepare Singaporeans for two large integrated resorts and casinos due to start in 2009.

But the biggest impact is job-seeking in non-traditional countries. Thousands of ambitious youths – with their new knowledge – have ventured to work in booming economies that include China, Vietnam, South Africa and the Gulf states.

Last week, a news report said more youths are signing up in private schools to study the Shanghai dialect. The flourishing Chinese city could expect more Singaporeans heading that way.

o Seah Chiang Nee is a veteran journalist and editor of the information website littlespeck.com

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