By Sue-Ann Chia, Senior Political Correspondent

MS IVY Chai could not believe her bad luck when her boss handed her a letter last October and told her to pack up.

It was her third layoff in 22 years, each time coinciding with a major recession in Singapore.

But instead of wallowing in self-pity, she steeled herself to stay upbeat.

'Nobody will know the future, but you must tell yourself that it will get better and better,' she tells Insight.

She knows this from experience. The plucky 43-year-old is a recession survivor - picking herself up after each retrenchment from the finance sector.

The first was in 1986. She was 20, and earning $500 a month as an administrative clerk in a bank.

It was 'not that bad', as she had no financial commitments. She found a job a few months later, in the same position at another bank - but with a higher monthly salary of $800.

Round Two, however, was crushing.

The year was 1997, amid the Asian financial crisis.

'I was a stockbroker earning $6,000 a month. I had a big car - a BMW. I couldn't pay the instalments of $2,088 a month,' she recalls.

She sold her car, and even her three-room HDB flat in Upper Cross Street.

It took her one year to get another job, as an assistant dealer in a stockbroking firm earning about $4,000 a month.

She slowly built up her life again, until last year when she was dealt the third blow.

Still, she finds reasons to smile.

'My advantage is my 20 years' experience as a broker. As long as I'm confident in myself, I'll be okay,' she says.

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