http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/0...-pap-ministers-increase-their-own-pay-by-8-8/
When one has the most expensive government in the world, it is natural to expect out of the world performance from it.
However, life seems to getting worse for Singaporeans as their wages continue to decrease in the face of rampant inflation, especially the prices of public housing.
According to the Labor Report released by the Manpower Ministry yesterday, wages of Singaporeans have decreased by 3.2 percent in 2009.
“Nominal earnings decreased over the year by 1.6% in the fourth quarter of 2009, easing from the 3.0% decline in the preceding quarter. Earnings in 2009 declined by 2.6%, after rising by 5.4% in 2008. After adjusting for inflation (2009: 0.6%, 2008: 6.6%), the decline in real earnings was 3.2% in 2009, deeper than the contraction of 1.2% in 2008.”
As we can see from the above graph, both Singapore’s labor productivity and real earnings decline for the second consecutive year under the PAP.
The report appears to corroborate a comprehensive study conducted by Swiss bank UBS last year which found that “the average Singaporean experienced an 8 percent drop in gross wages, from $11.85 an hour to $10.85 an hour between 2006 and 2009.”
The UBS study findings were dismissed by PAP MP Halimah Yacob in Parliment. She claimed that “anecdotal evidence” showed a significant “jump” of about 20 percent in wages over the period.
“The discrepancy could have come from the limited sample of firms in the UBS study. The study’s figures do not give statistical averages as it covered only a few companies for each profession and city,” she suggested.
According to a recent Wall Street Journal editorial, the relentless influx of foreigners into Singapore over the last few years has depressed the wages of ordinary, decreased labor productivity, increased the cost of living, especially that of public housing and led to an overall decline in the standards of living.
In his recent Budget speech, Finance Minister Tharman claimed that “the healthy growth of wages for low wage families from 2006 to 2008 corresponded with the period when the foreign workforce was growing most rapidly.”
“It was how we were able to offset the decline in wages for our lower-income group that had taken place in the first part of the decade,” he added.
It seems that the PAP ministers and MPs do not really know what is going on judging from their ignorance of the official statistics provided by the Ministry of Manpower.
Even as Singaporeans continue to suffer from declining wages under PAP rule, the PAP has been quick to increase the salaries of its ministers and other political appointees by a hefty 8.8 percent which will cost Singapore taxpayers another whooping $58.7 million dollars.
A certain percentage of their pay is pegged to GDP growth – the higher the growth, the more money they bring home.
Singapore’s GDP growth over the last few years was fueled largely by the easy availability of cheap foreign labor which helped to keep labor costs down, thereby increasing the GDP.
It is quite obvious that the fruits of Singapore’s economic growth were not shared equally among all Sinagporeans with the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer with the end result that Singapore has the highest income gap among developed economies after Hong Kong.
Not that the PAP cares much anyway. Its octogenarian leader Lee Kuan Yew said during the Kent Ridge Ministerial Forum last year that Singapore’s widening income gap is an “inevitable” consequence of globalization and it matters little so long the government is able to create jobs for Singaporeans.
His views were supported by Mdm Halimah Yacob who said in Parliament lately that the “greatest dignity” the PAP can give Singaporeans is the “dignity of having a job” never mind if it pays sufficiently to maintain a decent standard of living.
With no opposition in Parliament to check on the PAP, Singaporeans will have no choice but to continue to slog for longer hours for less pay.
Check out these articles:
The UBS Study: Prices and Earnings, 2009:
Part 1: Singapore has lowest wages and domestic purchasing power among Asian Tigers
Part 2: Moving towards a Russian standard of living
Part 3: Why Singaporeans are paupers in a first world economy
When one has the most expensive government in the world, it is natural to expect out of the world performance from it.
However, life seems to getting worse for Singaporeans as their wages continue to decrease in the face of rampant inflation, especially the prices of public housing.
According to the Labor Report released by the Manpower Ministry yesterday, wages of Singaporeans have decreased by 3.2 percent in 2009.
“Nominal earnings decreased over the year by 1.6% in the fourth quarter of 2009, easing from the 3.0% decline in the preceding quarter. Earnings in 2009 declined by 2.6%, after rising by 5.4% in 2008. After adjusting for inflation (2009: 0.6%, 2008: 6.6%), the decline in real earnings was 3.2% in 2009, deeper than the contraction of 1.2% in 2008.”
As we can see from the above graph, both Singapore’s labor productivity and real earnings decline for the second consecutive year under the PAP.
The report appears to corroborate a comprehensive study conducted by Swiss bank UBS last year which found that “the average Singaporean experienced an 8 percent drop in gross wages, from $11.85 an hour to $10.85 an hour between 2006 and 2009.”
The UBS study findings were dismissed by PAP MP Halimah Yacob in Parliment. She claimed that “anecdotal evidence” showed a significant “jump” of about 20 percent in wages over the period.
“The discrepancy could have come from the limited sample of firms in the UBS study. The study’s figures do not give statistical averages as it covered only a few companies for each profession and city,” she suggested.
According to a recent Wall Street Journal editorial, the relentless influx of foreigners into Singapore over the last few years has depressed the wages of ordinary, decreased labor productivity, increased the cost of living, especially that of public housing and led to an overall decline in the standards of living.
In his recent Budget speech, Finance Minister Tharman claimed that “the healthy growth of wages for low wage families from 2006 to 2008 corresponded with the period when the foreign workforce was growing most rapidly.”
“It was how we were able to offset the decline in wages for our lower-income group that had taken place in the first part of the decade,” he added.
It seems that the PAP ministers and MPs do not really know what is going on judging from their ignorance of the official statistics provided by the Ministry of Manpower.
Even as Singaporeans continue to suffer from declining wages under PAP rule, the PAP has been quick to increase the salaries of its ministers and other political appointees by a hefty 8.8 percent which will cost Singapore taxpayers another whooping $58.7 million dollars.
A certain percentage of their pay is pegged to GDP growth – the higher the growth, the more money they bring home.
Singapore’s GDP growth over the last few years was fueled largely by the easy availability of cheap foreign labor which helped to keep labor costs down, thereby increasing the GDP.
It is quite obvious that the fruits of Singapore’s economic growth were not shared equally among all Sinagporeans with the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer with the end result that Singapore has the highest income gap among developed economies after Hong Kong.
Not that the PAP cares much anyway. Its octogenarian leader Lee Kuan Yew said during the Kent Ridge Ministerial Forum last year that Singapore’s widening income gap is an “inevitable” consequence of globalization and it matters little so long the government is able to create jobs for Singaporeans.
His views were supported by Mdm Halimah Yacob who said in Parliament lately that the “greatest dignity” the PAP can give Singaporeans is the “dignity of having a job” never mind if it pays sufficiently to maintain a decent standard of living.
With no opposition in Parliament to check on the PAP, Singaporeans will have no choice but to continue to slog for longer hours for less pay.
Check out these articles:
The UBS Study: Prices and Earnings, 2009:
Part 1: Singapore has lowest wages and domestic purchasing power among Asian Tigers
Part 2: Moving towards a Russian standard of living
Part 3: Why Singaporeans are paupers in a first world economy
