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<TABLE class=msgtable cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="96%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=msg vAlign=top><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgbfr1 width="1%"> </TD><TD><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR class=msghead vAlign=top><TD class=msgF width="1%" noWrap align=right>From: </TD><TD class=msgFname width="68%" noWrap>kojakbt_89 <NOBR></NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate width="30%" noWrap align=right>1:57 am </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT height=20 width="1%" noWrap align=right>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname width="68%" noWrap>ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft rowSpan=4 width="1%"> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>30254.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt>Declining wages of Singaporeans and the continued denial of PAP leaders
March 18, 2010 by admin
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http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/03/18/declining-wages-of-singaporeans-and-the-continued-denial-of-pap-leaders/
OPINION
It is an open secret among Singaporeans that life has been getting tougher for them in the last few years. Their wages have either decreased or remained stagnant and even for those who had a modest pay rise, they are grossly insufficient to cover the rampant inflation which hit a record 6 percent in 2008.
A comprehensive study “Prices and Earnings” conducted by UBS last year revealed that Singaporeans have the lowest wages and domestic purchasing power among th Asian tigers. In fact, Singapore has a standard of living comparable to Russia than to Switzerland whose standard of living was promised by a former Prime Minister a decade ago.
According to UBS, the average Singaporean experienced an 8 percent drop in gross wages between 2006 and 2009 as compared to the more than 50 percent hike in the salaries of PAP ministers during the same period of time.
Naturally, when one belongs to the top 1 percent of the earners in Singapore, it is easy to overlook the common folks struggling to get by in their daily lives.
Obviously Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam was ignorant of the UBS report when he made the most unbelievable and audacious claim that foreign workers helped to increase the wages of Singaporeans:
“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.
[Source: Straits Times, 3 March 2010]
The discrepancy in the fitures can be explained by an error in the statistics used by Mr Tharman as pointed out by economist Kenneth Jeyaretnam from the Reform Party:
“The majority of these new residents did not have dependents (hence the much faster rise in the resident labour force than the resident population) and all of them would have had jobs so the proportion of working adults in the average resident household would have risen. As a result we would have seen an increase in real median income per household member without any real increase in the median incomes of Singaporean citizens who were already here before this period began, i.e., the majority of us. Another reason why the Minister’s figure is misleading is that it excludes households consisting solely of non-working persons over 60.”
[Source: Reform Party: A complacent Budget]
Another PAP MP Halimah Yacob cast doubts on the results of the UBS study in Parliament and claimed that “anecdotal evidence” showed that there is a “significant” jump of about 20 percent in wages over the same period of time.
“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.
[Source: Straits Times, 9 March 2010]
It appears that both Mr Tharman and Madam Halimah have not checked the facts with their fellow colleague Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong which must have embarrassed them greatly when the Labor Report published this Monday had proven them wrong beyond any reasonable doubt:
“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.”
[Source: Ministry of Manpower]
The decline in wages in hardly surprising given the increased competition that Singaporeans have to face from cheap foreign workers which the PAP has let in indiscriminately.
A recent Wall Street Journal editorial reported the relentless influx of foreigners into Singapore over the last few years had depressed the wages of ordinary Singaporeans, increased the cost of living, especially that of public housing, decreased labor productivity and led to an overall decline in the standard of living.
One reader who graduated last year with an Engineering degree from NTU told us that he is still looking for a job.
“I have sent my resumes to countless companies, both local and MNCs and only a handful got back to me. They offer a basic salary ranging from between $1,500 and $2,000 which is completely unacceptable as I still have to repay my study loans. Others coughed at my NS obligations which need me to be away for up to four weeks a year. One HR manager told me bluntly to ‘take it or leave it’ as she can easily find a China or Indian engineer to fill the positions for less pay than I am requesting easily. These companies have no problems fulfilling the dependency ratio quota for foreign workers as they will help the new foreign workers apply for Singapore PR almost immediately after they are hired,” he said.
In other countries, jobs like engineering are reserved only for locals, but over here, the PAP expects Singaporeans to compete directly with cheap foreign engineers while remaining “cheaper, faster and better” at the same time.
The PAP’s addiction to foreigners is understandable at it “kills two birds with one stone”:
1. Foreigners help keep labor costs down thereby increasing GDP growth artificially. A certain percentage of the PAP ministers’ multi-million salaries is pegged to GDP growth figures – the higher the percentage growth, the more money they bring home.
2. The foreigners provide a ready pool of potential new citizens whose increasing numbers will help to shore up the PAP’s flagging support among native Singaporeans.
How can Singaporeans ever trust the PAP to manage the economy when its MPs and ministers are still living in a state of denial? Does it make any sense that while the salaries of Singaporeans have decreased by 3.2 percent, the PAP ministers will be getting a hefty 8.8 percent pay hike at the same time? Is this a government for the people or for a small group of self-serving elites only?
It is time for Singaporeans to realize that there will be no economic rights without political rights and unless Singaporeans stand up and fight for their rights, they will always remain as slaves to the despotic PAP regime, waiting for the crumbs left over by them rather than to partake and enjoy the fruits gained by the nation’s economic growth.
The UBS Series:
>> 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
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March 18, 2010 by admin
Filed under Opinion
Leave a comment
http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/03/18/declining-wages-of-singaporeans-and-the-continued-denial-of-pap-leaders/
OPINION
It is an open secret among Singaporeans that life has been getting tougher for them in the last few years. Their wages have either decreased or remained stagnant and even for those who had a modest pay rise, they are grossly insufficient to cover the rampant inflation which hit a record 6 percent in 2008.
A comprehensive study “Prices and Earnings” conducted by UBS last year revealed that Singaporeans have the lowest wages and domestic purchasing power among th Asian tigers. In fact, Singapore has a standard of living comparable to Russia than to Switzerland whose standard of living was promised by a former Prime Minister a decade ago.
According to UBS, the average Singaporean experienced an 8 percent drop in gross wages between 2006 and 2009 as compared to the more than 50 percent hike in the salaries of PAP ministers during the same period of time.
Naturally, when one belongs to the top 1 percent of the earners in Singapore, it is easy to overlook the common folks struggling to get by in their daily lives.
Obviously Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam was ignorant of the UBS report when he made the most unbelievable and audacious claim that foreign workers helped to increase the wages of Singaporeans:
“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.
[Source: Straits Times, 3 March 2010]
The discrepancy in the fitures can be explained by an error in the statistics used by Mr Tharman as pointed out by economist Kenneth Jeyaretnam from the Reform Party:
“The majority of these new residents did not have dependents (hence the much faster rise in the resident labour force than the resident population) and all of them would have had jobs so the proportion of working adults in the average resident household would have risen. As a result we would have seen an increase in real median income per household member without any real increase in the median incomes of Singaporean citizens who were already here before this period began, i.e., the majority of us. Another reason why the Minister’s figure is misleading is that it excludes households consisting solely of non-working persons over 60.”
[Source: Reform Party: A complacent Budget]
Another PAP MP Halimah Yacob cast doubts on the results of the UBS study in Parliament and claimed that “anecdotal evidence” showed that there is a “significant” jump of about 20 percent in wages over the same period of time.
“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.
[Source: Straits Times, 9 March 2010]
It appears that both Mr Tharman and Madam Halimah have not checked the facts with their fellow colleague Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong which must have embarrassed them greatly when the Labor Report published this Monday had proven them wrong beyond any reasonable doubt:
“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.”
[Source: Ministry of Manpower]
The decline in wages in hardly surprising given the increased competition that Singaporeans have to face from cheap foreign workers which the PAP has let in indiscriminately.
A recent Wall Street Journal editorial reported the relentless influx of foreigners into Singapore over the last few years had depressed the wages of ordinary Singaporeans, increased the cost of living, especially that of public housing, decreased labor productivity and led to an overall decline in the standard of living.
One reader who graduated last year with an Engineering degree from NTU told us that he is still looking for a job.
“I have sent my resumes to countless companies, both local and MNCs and only a handful got back to me. They offer a basic salary ranging from between $1,500 and $2,000 which is completely unacceptable as I still have to repay my study loans. Others coughed at my NS obligations which need me to be away for up to four weeks a year. One HR manager told me bluntly to ‘take it or leave it’ as she can easily find a China or Indian engineer to fill the positions for less pay than I am requesting easily. These companies have no problems fulfilling the dependency ratio quota for foreign workers as they will help the new foreign workers apply for Singapore PR almost immediately after they are hired,” he said.
In other countries, jobs like engineering are reserved only for locals, but over here, the PAP expects Singaporeans to compete directly with cheap foreign engineers while remaining “cheaper, faster and better” at the same time.
The PAP’s addiction to foreigners is understandable at it “kills two birds with one stone”:
1. Foreigners help keep labor costs down thereby increasing GDP growth artificially. A certain percentage of the PAP ministers’ multi-million salaries is pegged to GDP growth figures – the higher the percentage growth, the more money they bring home.
2. The foreigners provide a ready pool of potential new citizens whose increasing numbers will help to shore up the PAP’s flagging support among native Singaporeans.
How can Singaporeans ever trust the PAP to manage the economy when its MPs and ministers are still living in a state of denial? Does it make any sense that while the salaries of Singaporeans have decreased by 3.2 percent, the PAP ministers will be getting a hefty 8.8 percent pay hike at the same time? Is this a government for the people or for a small group of self-serving elites only?
It is time for Singaporeans to realize that there will be no economic rights without political rights and unless Singaporeans stand up and fight for their rights, they will always remain as slaves to the despotic PAP regime, waiting for the crumbs left over by them rather than to partake and enjoy the fruits gained by the nation’s economic growth.
The UBS Series:
>> 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
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