stockman

troubleHK: people from different generations face different competitions.  Just about 10 years ago the Internet was commercialized, which speeds up globalizations as many industries face new competitiors they would never imagine before.  In the past accounting must be done locally, but now a US or Hong Kong firm's payroll can be handled by an outsourced firm in India.  Customer Service jobs are hit hard too - remember you used to call someone in Hong Kong locally to retrieve your message?  Very soon all those jobs were moved to China.  How about programming job?  In the dot-com era people rushed to learn IT and thought programmers make good $?  After they spent 3-4 years in school, they soon realized someone in India, China, or Eastern Europe can do as good a job as those high paying programmers in the US or Hong Kong.
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So unless you work in the service industries that provide in-person service that requires immediate consumption, your job is not safe.  Jobs like chefs, barbers, retail sales, drivers can never be outsourced.  Or else, you face the same issue like most people -- you need to constantly update and upgrade your skills and watch out for competitions.  Before 97 you were good enough with only Cantonese and English skills, now you also need to know Mandarin.  In the past small accounting firms could have small business clients doing their books, now these clients may simply use packaged accounting software and these accounting firms thus lost their business.4 C7 c! \' T! D

7 K0 m* `- w0 {' h7 `2 o9 RIt may sound scary to you that few few jobs are safe nowadays, but that's just the truth and you must find a way to accommodate and deal with it.  Hope this doesn't sound too sad to you.

stockman

1 more advice to you troublehk: if you think your (our) generation sucks, imagine the next generation:  Q. D5 g6 ~. V8 f- C& H

3 F3 h% y/ r4 r1 x9 ]+ U; o" [- U-grads may not be good enough to compete in HK as probably 1 in 4 people will be u-grads.  They may need a Master's degree to get just a decent job.
$ s7 J/ \  l) ~1 g- They live and work in a heavyly poluted environment.  You think the air is dirty and weather is hot now?  Imagine how it'll be like in about 20 years.  Imagine you son has to put on that suit and tie to go to work everyday.
6 \, q$ s# D; N4 A6 b5 Q- }- the economic boundaries between HK and China may simply disappear.  In 20 years your children need to compete with millions of highly educated and talented China workers who are good in both English and Mandarin, who don't mind to work hard, and who probably are still willing to take a lot less $ than your children for a job opening.
- c3 [3 _: g, _" S' L6 b9 i- since the birth rate is so low right now in HK, you probably will only have a child.  If it's a son (and if he's a traditioinal one), he may eventually need to support you and your spouse and his wife's parents financially.  Why?  Because your daughter-in-law may also be the only child and her parents have no one left to support them after marrying your son.  Your son won't have any siblings to help him out.  Our generations may have a brother or sister to help out to support our parents when they are old, but your son has to take on this baggage all by himself.; H' y% ~9 F, L

. k* E/ V  Y7 [+ ]! D5 KI know just because telling you how bad the next generation will be probably can't make you feel better now.  Since you said you're about 30 and have worked for about 10 years, I just wanted to talk more reality and fantasy.  Those younger 'kids' in this forum may not understand what I'm talking about but I supposed you may for your age and experience.  I'm sure most of us here in 26FUN belong to the middfle of the pack -- not the top tier of the society but also not the very bottom one.  We all face similar problems and can't seem to find the way out.  Everyday we live just like yesterday.   We can't see the future and we're just not happy.
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# h1 W. Y, \; n- [* Q8 J/ p" hAnd my advice to you is to put things in perspectives as a way to soothe yourself.  Sure you may not have a lot of money and you just hate your job.  But you must have something you're really proud of, right?  Like a good family, a nice wife, a healthy body, etc.  Look at Stephen Hawking.  I have to imagine he's very rich (not super rich but richer than a lot of people) and well known and respected around the world, yet he's stuck in that wheel chair for the rest of his life and can't even hug his wife or kiss her.  Now ask yourself would you rather be him?  Maybe Stephen sometimes just wondered if he could  just be a regular guy and works 60 hours a week, doesn't make a lot of $, and can go to a bar to yell and scream with other people while watching the World Cup?
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You just have to believe tomorrow will be a better day!