WHEN Singaporeans above the age of 40 or retirees seek jobs to feed their families - any job, be it as a cleaner, dishwasher, stall assistant or coffeeshop helper - they often meet with this response:

'You are too old. Are you prepared to accept $800 per month for 10 hours of work and one day off every fortnight?

'Of course, you have to multi-task - wash the dishes, clean toilets and fans, undertake delivery, etc, for the $800.

'Expect no medical or leave benefits.'

After deducting transport and food which do not come cheap, the poor retiree who used to earn $2,000 to $3,000 takes home a much-reduced income.

The employer can afford to be smug because if the older Singaporean does not want the job, he could always look to abundant younger China workers willing to do 12-hour shifts and more work, for less.

How is it that we are allowing cheap, unskilled foreign workers into Singapore so easily that they are depressing wages and making life hard for less-educated older Singaporeans?

What can we do in the face of such unfair odds, with all the cards stacked against us?

Ang Kwang Leng