Monday, June 8, 2009

What Numbers Are These?

Last month I was left scratching my head when the Strait Times reported that states that in the past 2 years the average Singaporean’s monthly earnings grew by 5.8%. I commented that my salary did not grow by 5.8% and I do not know anyone who did.

So it’s with shock and laughter when I read that according to the latest government report, low—wage workers have seen wages rise by 9 per cent. I was surprised by the 5.8% figure, but 9% increase in the last 2 years? Where in the world did the Singapore government get these figures? A 9% wage increase in the past 2 years and what’s worse is that they also reported that the income gap for the first such decline in a decade narrowed in 2008.

That I can at least understand because a 9% increase is more than a 5.8% increase. Now if only I can understand how they got these figures.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

we can't accept the figures because we are not elites or higher mortals.
while we are impacted by the effects of lower wealth,they just need to look at statistics & declare everything is ok.

Anonymous said...

Actually, it's 8.9376842% to be exact, but to publish such figures may be a little too daunting for the average Joe or Jane to handle, though it'll lend more credibility to the Gahmen's claim.

Ghost said...

8.9376842% wage increase? Same questions: What numbers are these? How do they get these numbers?

Anonymous said...

Haha... you actually believe the figure given. It's meant to be a joke to show just how obsessed the Gahmen is with statistics, but can't blame them coz its their only way to tell the population at large how well they performed.

Now they even appointed an Indian to be the Finance Minister for obvious reasons (gek-leng-xiao). Go figure!