Some 12,000 workers are expected to lose their jobs this year. Companies are freezing wages and stopping recruitment. Then, wham - five months later, in October, that picture was smashed to smithereens. Her job as a supervisor in a retail shop vanished. Meanwhile, no pay cheque was in sight.
People call it a 'retrenchment exercise'.
Something to be expected when companies have to slash costs. Something that cannot be helped. Ms Sim's situation was not caught in the macro-economic figures. The country was chalking up a phenomenal growth rate that averaged about 10 per cent last year. But, in actual fact, since late last year, some companies have already been reeling from the fall in global demand for electronics and the spluttering US economy.