April 13, 2008

Decline the middle class

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littlespeck said:

The proportion of Singaporeans earning less than S$1,000 a month rose to 18% last year, from 16% in 2002, according to central bank data.

The bad part is that life is often worse for the unemployed – compared to other countries - because Singapore has no safety net and no rural hinterland to cushion their suffering.

Unlike in Malaysia or Thailand, a jobless person who cannot cope with the global market has no countryside to retreat to so that he can live off the land.

The problem will get worse. In other words, the rich will get richer and the poor, poorer with the middle class remaining more or less stagnant.

The state’s Gini coefficient, a measure of income inequality, has worsened from 42.5 in 1998 to 47.2 in 2006, which makes it in league with the Philippines (46.1) and Guatemala (48.3), and worse than China (44.7) according to the World Bank.

Recommended by at82: "It says alot about the state of Singapore's economy when there are more people earning less $1000 per month in 2007 compared to 2002..."

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Submitted by at82 on April 12//5:22pm and published by jseng, Agagooga :: 1452 reads | trackback
Comments 6

wouldn't the lack of a safety net be the safety net for the ruling government?

Posted by Anonymous Coward* on 13 April, 2008 - 3:37am

Very good article which won't be reported in the Straits Times.

Posted by WeiPeng* on 13 April, 2008 - 10:19am

How can they feed themselves with less than $1000!?
Ask Mas Selamat.
What can Singapore do for these poor stucked in the poverty cycle?
God knows.

Posted by Rich Coward* on 13 April, 2008 - 3:10pm

shldn't it be decline OF the middle class?

but yes we are declining the middle class.

Posted by Anonymous dude* on 13 April, 2008 - 3:25pm

My God.....you mean some one out there is not telling us the truth???
Look like the situation will be out of control and not showing any sign of improvement....

Posted by Anonymous Coward* on 13 April, 2008 - 6:34pm

I think the estimate of 18% may be very underestimated having met a lot of people here in Singapore . The only thing thats important in Singapore is GDP and thinking that Singapore is a very influent and model state , its far from the truth .
Singapore as a whole is on the decline , as it does the political system will change , as it has done in other South East Asian countries.
South East Asia as a whole will decline

Posted by caver38* on 21 June, 2008 - 4:26pm