UNCERTAIN TIMES call for innovative solutions. That's why a new cooperative in Singapore that helps people who have lost -- or are likely to lose -- their jobs is growing at an astonishing rate. The group has seen its ranks swell by 60% since April to 300 members. It has attracted a huge cross-section of professionals, from engineers and consultants to stockbrokers, real-estate dealers, insurance agents and contract workers. "Some are worried about losing their jobs, others have lost their jobs," says David Ang, executive director of Singapore Human Resources Institute, the non-profit organization that set up the Singapore Professionals' and Executives' Cooperative, or Spec, in May last year. Those who join the cooperative pay S$1 ($0.54) per share for a minimum of 50 shares each.

Members also pay an annual premium of about S$110 per year. This ensures a lifeline of S$1,500 cash a month for up to three months to tide them over while they look for work. To qualify for the cash relief, they must have been a member for at least 60 days. In addition to getting access to inexpensive insurance, members can network with each other and even join forces to start a new business. In some cases, the cooperative itself can invest in such a start-up. What's more, members who have not yet lost their jobs can volunteer their time and offer fellow members advice on everything from legal aid to financial planning. And if the cooperative does well, members may receive dividends in the future.

Annah Lee, a senior executive with the institute that set up Spec, describes how one caller last year said he had lost his job at a multinational after 20 years. Ashamed to tell his wife, he acted as though nothing was wrong, leaving home each morning with briefcase in hand. More recently, a man in his thirties with an MBA who had worked as a business-development manager at a multinational company and had been laid off, called her in distress. "He didn't know where to go and didn't want to ask his friends for help," she recalls. "It's very bad out there and it's getting worse every day. Even people with jobs feel insecure."

One of the biggest drivers behind the job losses is the global slump in electronics. And it's not just personnel in Singapore that are suffering. Many of the city-state's neighbors in Asia are heavily reliant on the export sector for economic growth -- particularly on shipments of electronics-related equipment to the United States. Exports to the U.S. accounted for a quarter of Asia's economic growth in 2000.

But in Singapore, three consecutive monthly falls in non-oil domestic exports in March, April and May underscore how vulnerable the economy is to external demand. Electronics products like semiconductors, disk drives, personal computers and telecommunications equipment make up about half of the country's manufacturing output, and about 60% of non-oil exports. Indeed, roughly 62% of job cuts during the first quarter of this year were in manufacturing.

The uncertainty is not just being felt in manufacturing. Consolidation in the domestic financial industry is fuelling layoffs, as is a slowdown in some investment-banking activity. "The pure investment-banking activity that increased last year has slowed down dramatically this year," says Gael De Roquefeuil, a partner at TMP Worldwide Executive Search in Singapore. "Financial institutions are facing tough decisions about the head count they want to keep here."

As the job market worsens, Spec's membership is likely to grow. According to the latest industry data, 3,248 workers were retrenched in the first quarter of this year alone, compared with a quarterly average of 1,900 during the previous three quarters.