We refer to the article “Real solutions needed to deal with income inequality, says PM Lee at Singapore Summit” (Sunday Times, Sep 21).
Income inequality – concrete solutions, necessary skills, work hard?
It states that “Income inequality has become a fashionable topic, with many articles and books written about it, but the way to deal with the gap between the rich and the poor is through concrete solutions, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Saturday.
Among these are to equip people with skills that are in demand by the economy, and to redistribute wealth so that everyone can have “chips to play with”.
Elaborating on these solutions, he said making sure that people have the necessary skills to succeed – and not just those with a degree, but those who took the technical route too – can help to generate growth and jobs.
He added: “What is possible to do within individual countries, we can do. The income inequality will be there, but in absolute terms we can improve lives for nearly everybody in the society, provided they work and are prepared to make the effort.”"
Best indicator is pay increase?
- Arguably, perhaps workers’ pay may be the best indicator as to how well our policies, such as the consistent rhetoric for more than a decade now – asking Singaporeans to upgrade their skills continuously – have been effective in addressing income inequality.
In this connection, there have been full-page advertisements in the media on the new Lifelong Learning Institute and the new focus on skills upgrading.
Update on wage statistics?
Using the Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM) statistics cited in David Wan and Ong Chin Huat’s paper “Compensation systems in Singapore” (July/August 2002) and the MOM’s Occupational Wages Benchmarking Tool (Benchmark data reference period: 2013), the median monthly basic wages for the eight occupational categories in 1999 and 2013 were as follows:-
Median Monthly Basic Wages 1999($) 2013($) Increase(%) Real Increase(%) P.A(%)
Cleaners, Labourers & Related Workers 1,015 1,000 -1.5 -35.8 -3.1
Service & Sales Workers 1,175 1,550 31.9 -2.1 -0.2
Associate Professionals & Technicians 2,210 2,908 31.6 -2.4 -0.2
Clerical Support Workers 1,515 2,050 33.3 -0.7 -0.1
Craftsmen & Related Trades Workers 1,500 1,922 28.1 -5.9 -0.4
Managers 5,099 7,000 37.3 3.3 0.2
Professionals 3,350 4,634 38.3 4.3 0.3
Plant & Machine Operators 1,108 1,600 44.4 10.4 0.7
(Note: The above were computed based on inflation of 34.0% from 1999 (CPI 86.4) to 2013 (CPI 115.8))
Negative real wage growth for 5 of 8 job categories & near 0 for 3 of 8?
Does the above mean that the real median basic wage growth was negative in the last 14 years, for 5 of the 8 job categories; and only grew by 0.2 to 0.7% per annum for the other 3 of the 8 categories?
Job category with the highest real pay increase was only 0.7% p.a.?
In fact, the job category which grew the most in real terms, at 0.7% per annum – Plant & Machine Operators – are only paid $1,600 today.
Cleaners’ pay dropped 35.5%?
Cleaners, Labourers & Related Workers were the hardest hit, with their pay at only $1,000 today, a decrease in real terms of -35.5% or -3.1% per annum for the last 14 years.
Liberal foreign labour policies?
To what extent has our liberal foreign labour policies contributed to the above – and income inequality?
Income inequality – PRs earn 48% more?
In this connection, we had earlier analysed that on the average – PRs earned about 48% more than Singaporeans? (“PRs earn 48% more than Singaporeans?“, Aug 16).
What is the labour movement doing?
The labour movement and the tripartite movement may need to do more to prevent the continuing erosion of workers’ real wages.
In this connection, Singaporean workers may need to be concerned about their “right to work for a fair wage” (Article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Simplified Version) (UDHR)).
S Y Lee and Leong Sze Hian
P.S. Come with your family and friends to the 4th Return Our CPF protest on 27 September 4 pm at Speakers’ Corner https://www.facebook.com/events/516436478486589/