March 3, 2010 by admin
Filed under Opinion
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OPINION
According
to a shocking press release from the U.S. Department of Labor last
year, Singapore experienced the steepest decline in
productivity among 17 developed economies in the world in the years
2007 – 2008.
Not only that, it had the lowest increase in the hourly
compensation per unit labor cost and one of the highest increase in
manufacturing unit costs as well.
The detailed article was not reported by the Singapore media.
Neither was it mentioned by Finance Minister Tharman last week
which would have greatly embarrassed the PAP government.
Steepest productivity decline
Among the 17 countries, the Republic of Korea and the United
States had the largest increases (1.2 per cent each) while
Singapore had the steepest decline (-6.6 per cent):

Second highest increase in manufacturing
costs
Singapore has the second highest increase in manufacturing unit
costs when the figures are expressed in national currency units at
7.5per cent after Denmark’s 8.3 percent:

Lowest increase in hourly wages
Hourly compensation in manufacturing increased in 2008 in all 17
economies. The largest increase was in Norway (+ 5.6 percent),
followed by Spain (+4.8 percent).
Singapore has the lowest increase at only 0.5 percent:

Second highest increase in the number of manufacturing
hours
In 2008 total manufacturing hours worked fell in 9 economies
with the greatest decline in the United States at -3.9 per cent.
Denmark has the largest increase at +2.7 per cent followed by
Singapore at +2.6 per cent as shown by the chart above.
Analysis
Singapore’s dismal performance in labor productivity is a direct
result of the PAP’s short-sighted liberal immigration and
pro-foreigner policies which help companies take the easy way out
keeping labor costs down artificially by employing cheap foreign
workers instead of investing in innovation and research to boost
productivity.
As noted in the graph below, Singapore’s labor productivity took
a plunge from 2004 onwards when the inflow of foreigners started to
pick up:

[Source: Kojakbt, 3in1kopitiam forum
moderator]
Extracted from
temasekreview.com