Knowledge Economy, Meritocracy & Internships
I highly recommend the essays by Sudhir Thomas Vadaketh and Donald Low:
http://sudhirtv.com/2013/05/17/why-has-singapore-failed-to-prepare-its-citizens-adequately-for-the-knowledge-economy/
http://sudhirtv.com/2013/05/17/why-has-singapore-failed-to-prepare-its-citizens-adequately-for-the-knowledge-economy-part-2/
http://www.ipscommons.sg/index.php/categories/featured/104-good-meritocracy-bad-meritocracy
The first two links were actually two posts that make up one essay. The second discusses how society reacts to asymmetric information. In a situation where there is no exact manner to identify every individual's ability (relatively or absolutely). society is forced to utilize different mechanisms to attempt to attain a separating equilibrium.
Personally I concur that the mechanisms are based largely on subjective opinions of what defines "meritocracy" and effective proxies used to measure/qualify "merit". The issue perhaps lies in how we understand "ability"- there is no single method to define "ability" just as there is no single method that can be applied to define "creativity". This is especially problematic as Singapore becomes a knowledge economy where creativity is the source of ability to perform on many jobs.
Drawing from Mr Sudhir's essay, I felt that if the Singapore economy was largely blue collar or working class (ie most jobs are manual labor), it would be easier to quantify "ability" because the goods produced per period are tangible. However the intangible products and value-addedness of Services that largely dominates a knowledge-based economy simply makes it difficult to produce meaningful measurements of productivity. To provide a perspective of how service-oriented the Singapore economy is, the World Bank estimates that the Service sector contributes to 73% of Singapore's GDP in 2011.
http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NV.SRV.TETC.ZS
Of course, one might argue that a knowledge-based economy should not be confused with a Service-oriented economy, since the former may also correspond to a manufacturing-oriented economy. Furthermore the Service sector is made up of many sub-sectors and a variety of occupations- an investment banker provides a service, just like a cleaner. However I will argue that in general, Singapore's GDP largely comes from Knowledge-based Services (services that require knowledge, creativity and a certain degree of formal training) which are difficult to quantify. Despite preaching "meritocracy" over the decades, it is starting to lose its relevance and objectivity as the country progresses towards a Knowledge-Services Economy.
Without any standard measure of meritocracy in Knowledge-based Services, employers have to resort to tangible proxies. One of the best proof of knowledge ability, therefore, lies in actual projects being completed by an individual. The problem is that: what about those who had not taken any projects (aka fresh graduates)? Based on my personal observation, there are few jobs out there that is truly available for fresh graduates- even basic executive jobs require at least 1 to 3 years experience.
The difficulties in proving one's intangible ability, coupled with the labor context in Singapore (and perhaps other knowledge-driven economies across the world), results in an impetus for students to seize internships to take on "real world experience" to prove themselves. The problem lies in whether any actual projects had being undertaken, or at least some form of impartation by the supervisors and mentors of the interns.
Regrettably, there are many menial jobs disguised as "internships" out there. As a result, the internship market sometimes is fraught with more spin than substance. The consequences affecting young interns are actually tied to the information asymmetry exacerbated in a knowledge-based economy.
It does not mean that Singapore should move away from a knowledge-based economy; rather recognizing the existence of the inextricable link between macroeconomic and mundane issues allows policy makers and young adults slated to enter the workforce to plan and consider possible routes to navigate this complex situation.
http://sudhirtv.com/2013/05/17/why-has-singapore-failed-to-prepare-its-citizens-adequately-for-the-knowledge-economy/
http://sudhirtv.com/2013/05/17/why-has-singapore-failed-to-prepare-its-citizens-adequately-for-the-knowledge-economy-part-2/
http://www.ipscommons.sg/index.php/categories/featured/104-good-meritocracy-bad-meritocracy
The first two links were actually two posts that make up one essay. The second discusses how society reacts to asymmetric information. In a situation where there is no exact manner to identify every individual's ability (relatively or absolutely). society is forced to utilize different mechanisms to attempt to attain a separating equilibrium.
Personally I concur that the mechanisms are based largely on subjective opinions of what defines "meritocracy" and effective proxies used to measure/qualify "merit". The issue perhaps lies in how we understand "ability"- there is no single method to define "ability" just as there is no single method that can be applied to define "creativity". This is especially problematic as Singapore becomes a knowledge economy where creativity is the source of ability to perform on many jobs.
Drawing from Mr Sudhir's essay, I felt that if the Singapore economy was largely blue collar or working class (ie most jobs are manual labor), it would be easier to quantify "ability" because the goods produced per period are tangible. However the intangible products and value-addedness of Services that largely dominates a knowledge-based economy simply makes it difficult to produce meaningful measurements of productivity. To provide a perspective of how service-oriented the Singapore economy is, the World Bank estimates that the Service sector contributes to 73% of Singapore's GDP in 2011.
http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NV.SRV.TETC.ZS
Of course, one might argue that a knowledge-based economy should not be confused with a Service-oriented economy, since the former may also correspond to a manufacturing-oriented economy. Furthermore the Service sector is made up of many sub-sectors and a variety of occupations- an investment banker provides a service, just like a cleaner. However I will argue that in general, Singapore's GDP largely comes from Knowledge-based Services (services that require knowledge, creativity and a certain degree of formal training) which are difficult to quantify. Despite preaching "meritocracy" over the decades, it is starting to lose its relevance and objectivity as the country progresses towards a Knowledge-Services Economy.
Without any standard measure of meritocracy in Knowledge-based Services, employers have to resort to tangible proxies. One of the best proof of knowledge ability, therefore, lies in actual projects being completed by an individual. The problem is that: what about those who had not taken any projects (aka fresh graduates)? Based on my personal observation, there are few jobs out there that is truly available for fresh graduates- even basic executive jobs require at least 1 to 3 years experience.
The difficulties in proving one's intangible ability, coupled with the labor context in Singapore (and perhaps other knowledge-driven economies across the world), results in an impetus for students to seize internships to take on "real world experience" to prove themselves. The problem lies in whether any actual projects had being undertaken, or at least some form of impartation by the supervisors and mentors of the interns.
Regrettably, there are many menial jobs disguised as "internships" out there. As a result, the internship market sometimes is fraught with more spin than substance. The consequences affecting young interns are actually tied to the information asymmetry exacerbated in a knowledge-based economy.
It does not mean that Singapore should move away from a knowledge-based economy; rather recognizing the existence of the inextricable link between macroeconomic and mundane issues allows policy makers and young adults slated to enter the workforce to plan and consider possible routes to navigate this complex situation.
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