Christmas appeal to the govt: do more for the rising poor.
Singapore's Rising Poor
Although economy improves, government is still bugged by widening
rich-poor gap. Fabio Scarpello. Asia Times.
Dec 7, 2005
To the world, Singapore is a remarkable success story: a former
fishing port, the city-state in just 40 years has turned itself
into Asia's second-richest country in terms of per capita
income.
Yet, underneath there's another reality that speaks of a widening
wealth gap, with most forced to work long hours to make a
living.
"There is a growing gap," said Sinapan Samydoray, chairman of Think
Centre, a Singapore-based organisation that deals with social
issues.
"The bottom 20% of the population earns less than 10 years ago in
real terms. Almost 87% of the people are staying in government
houses. Sixty percent of the people do not pay tax because they
earn too little."
Singapore's social divide increased during the economic crisis that
hit East Asia in 1997.
While the average income of Singaporeans fell by 2.7% in that
period, that of the poorest families fell by a staggering 49%,
according to a paper by Professor Mukhopadhaya Pundarik of
Singapore's National University.
However, it seems the problem is inherent in the country's past and
present political economy (the production, distribution and
consumption of goods and services and their management).
Singapore's success story has been mainly based on attracting
foreign investment.
To do so, the country offered top-class infrastructure, a
corruption-free environment, tax incentives and - crucially -
low-cost labour. The policy has borne fruit.
Multinationals poured in, and the country's economy ballooned from
S$8.9 billion in 1965 to the current S$180.5 billion (US$109
billion).
In the last few years, competition from countries such as China,
India, Thailand and Malaysia has meant that, to remain competitive,
Singapore's workers have been asked to tighten their belts
further.
In addition, the new global climate spurned soul-searching among
Singapore's political elite, who decided to shift the country's
economy to higher-value added activities.
The tougher competition and the shift in economic policy have not
affected the country's well-educated and the rich.
In fact, the number of millionaires in Singapore is increasing
faster than any other country, according to the Merrill
Lynch/Capgemini World Wealth Report in 2004.
Those with assets of more than US$1 million now number 48,500, an
astounding 22.2% more from the previous year.
At the same time, the bottom 60% of the city-state's 4 million
inhabitants - who are not as well educated or skilled - face an
increased chance of unemployment as well as daily hardship to make
ends meet.
Singapore's official unemployment rate stands at 3.3%. But,
according to a recent Ministry of Manpower labor market report,
66.7% of those still looking for a job six months after having been
laid off are people with no more than a secondary education.
"Those who are 40 to 50 years old are really struggling. They have
no education to handle the new technology," Samydoray said.
And things do not look too promising. The country's gross domestic
product growth has slumped to about 4% from last year's 8%, and
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong is on record as saying:
"The jobless rate may rise to about 5% in the coming years, as
Singapore loses jobs to China and other countries where labour
costs are lower."
To make matters worse, as explained by Samydoray, there is no
minimum wage in Singapore, and the influx of temporary foreign
labour has driven wages down for locals.
"Every employee has [his/her] own contract," he said. "There is no
minimum wage and it all depends on how good you are at
bargaining.
Migrant workers are not wrong but they keep labour costs very low
and locals are stuck. Singaporeans are forced to find two jobs just
to survive."
However, long working hours are often not enough for low-paid
Singaporeans to earn the S$1,500 a month, deemed the minimum
necessary to get by.
For these people, the city's perks are out of reach. Fil Low, a
20-year-old shop assistant at I Nuovi Cosmetics, averages two hours
overtime a day but still only makes S$ 900 a month.
"We do not really enjoy our life because of our schedule," she
said.
"We can only really go out about two or three times a month. It is
not an enjoyable life. Professionals have a good life. For us, it
is just making a living."
Lion, 52, drives his taxi a minimum of 12 hours a day, seven days a
week. He never goes to a cinema, bar or to see friends.
"I am just too tired and not in the right mood. I work all the time
but I still cannot support my family properly," he said, without
disclosing his monthly earnings.
Razman, 30, works as a security guard at a Carrefour supermarket
during the day and as a personal trainer in a gym three nights a
week.
He averages 14 working hours a day, which pocket him about S $1,400
a month.
"I never go out," he said. "I sometimes see my friends in the
evening for a couple of hours when I am not working at the gym, but
no more than that.
"I am usually tired ... I am used to this. Maybe it is in my genes;
my father also worked very hard. Whatever other people do in other
countries, we have to do twice as much. It is Singapore's
lifestyle."