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Tag: income

  • Signs Higher Income Singaporeans Cannot Afford Private Housing

    Signs Higher Income Singaporeans Cannot Afford Private Housing

    Signs of mid-upper income Singaporeans not being able to afford private housing are emerging.

    Many Singaporeans are clamouring for the government to raise the income ceiling so they can buy public housing.

    Currently, households with a gross income of more than $10,000 are not eligible to buy new HDB BTO flats. Those earning more than $12,000 cannot buy executive condominiums (ECs).

    Lab researcher Tan Si Hui, 30, and her boyfriend have a combined income of $10,500, but they have failed in their past 5 BTO applications. “We don’t want to risk putting money into private property, especially with the rising cost of living in Singapore,” said Ms Tan. She and her boyfriend have no choice but to look for a resale HDB flat instead.

    However, resale HDB flats are not cheap either nowadays. The price gap between resale and BTO flats has been growing. According to government data, the price differential in the outside central region was 31% last year, up from 18% in 2004.

    Last week, during the Budget debate, some PAP MPs asked National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan to raise the income ceiling or remove it altogether.

    “The income ceiling is too blunt a tool, (it) does not take into consideration the circumstances faced by each family such as the number of dependants,” said MP Hri Kumar Nair.

    Mr Khaw disagreed.

    “I don’t think we want to lift the income ceiling completely,” he said, noting that HDB flats are “heavily subsidised” and are aimed at those who need help.

    Mr Khaw, of course, was talking about “market subsidy”, not “cost subsidy”. Till today, Mr Khaw has refused to reveal the construction cost of an HDB flat.

    However, Mr Khaw did hint that the income ceiling could be raised for more Singaporeans to buy HDB BTO flats. But he attributes this to the increase in income level.

    “As income level rises, we must be prepared to adjust the income ceiling,” he said, adding that he would mull over the income ceiling issue.

    The income ceiling was last raised in 2011, from $8,000 for HDB flats and $10,000 for ECs. Before that, the $8,000 limit had remained unchanged for 17 years.

    If Mr Khaw decides to raise the ceiling this year, it would reflect a change in 4 years, compared to the last change in 17 years.

    What does this show?

    What are the implications of such a change in a relatively short period of time, compared to the previous change over 17 years?

     

    Source: www.tremeritus.com

  • 2014 Graduates Had Higher Starting Salaries Compared To 2013 Cohort

    2014 Graduates Had Higher Starting Salaries Compared To 2013 Cohort

    Those who graduated from Singapore’s big three autonomous universities last year were paid more than their counterparts who completed their studies in 2013, according to the results of the Joint Graduate Employment Survey.

    The survey was conducted by Nanyang Technological University (NTU), National University of Singapore (NUS) and Singapore Management University (SMU). Out of a total of 13,656 full-time, fresh graduates, 10,126 took part in the survey, the universities said in a joint news release on Friday (Feb 27).

    The mean gross salaries of fresh graduates increased 3.22 per cent on-year to S$3,333 in 2014, the universities said. The median gross salaries saw a 4.91 per cent increase to S$3,200 last year, from the year before, they added.

    MEDIAN MONTHLY SALARY BY FACULTY

    The survey also revealed that those from the law and medicine faculties remain the highest-paid fresh graduates when they enter the workforce.

    Median Monthly Salary By Faculty

    The survey showed that as of Nov 1, 2014, the overall employment rate was 89.1 per cent, and about four in five of these graduates were employed in full-time permanent jobs within six months of completing their final examinations. This is similar to the employment rates achieved in 2013.

    A survey was also conducted among NTU, NUS and SMU graduates from the Architecture Class of 2011 who completed their practical training, and Class of 2013 graduates from the Biomedical Science (Traditional Chinese Medicine), Law, Medicine, and Pharmacy courses who completed their one-year practicum last year.

    The mean gross monthly salary among these follow-up graduates in full-time permanent employment was S$4,751 last year, up from S$4,575 in 2013, the universities said. The median gross monthly salary also increased from S$4,500 in 2013 to S$4,800 last year.

     

    Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

  • Household Incomes In Singapore Rise But Income Gap Remains Largely Unchanged

    Household Incomes In Singapore Rise But Income Gap Remains Largely Unchanged

    The earnings of households across income levels grew last year, even after accounting for inflation, while the income gap between the rich and the poor remained largely unchanged from 2013.

    Numbers released yesterday by the Department of Statistics (SingStat) on key household income trends last year showed that the median monthly household income from work grew to S$8,290, up 4.1 per cent after accounting for inflation. This was the highest real increase since 2011, which saw a 5.6 per cent growth from 2010.

    Factoring in the household sizes, the median monthly household income from work per household member also rose by 4.7 per cent last year, after accounting for inflation.

    Meanwhile, the Gini coefficient — a measure of income inequality — was 0.464 last year, compared with 0.463 in 2013. After adjusting for Government transfers, it was 0.412 last year, slightly higher than 0.409 in 2013.

    SingStat said this was because the amount of Government transfers and taxes was lower last year compared with 2013, when there were more one-off payments such as one-off Medisave top-ups and special payments on top of the permanent GST voucher payments. “In the past two years, the Gini, after accounting for Government transfers and taxes, had been at its lowest level in a decade,” added SingStat.

    Experts whom TODAY spoke to attributed the growth in real household income to a tighter labour market, where there could have been wage increments, given the need to retain labour.

    While the experts felt the Government would be able to continue with the transfers and taxes for the lower income, given that it had been careful with such payments so far, they said it would need to look at increasing productivity levels and upgrading employers’ skills in the longer term.

    OCBC economist Selena Ling felt it was encouraging to see the Gini coefficient stabilising at a relatively lower level, but said the Government would need to continue to balance the short-term wants of people with the longer-term issue of fiscal sustainability. Nonetheless, she noted that the Government had been “fairly prudent”. “Even last year’s budget, the fact that it can fund, completely upfront, S$8 billion (for the) Pioneer Generation Package tells you something about the health of the fiscal position for Singapore,” she said.

    CIMB economist Song Seng Wun felt that raising household income through Government transfers was “not a sustainable model”, and said the focus would continue to be on the drive to increase productivity. “What we want to do is to (look) at income as a whole, how it can be lifted through a more broad-based rise in wages,” he added.

    On the other hand, pointing to the cumulative growth in average income per household member over the past five years, UOB economist Alvin Liew noted that the lowest-income group at the 1st to 10th percentile saw a lower income growth of 17.2 per cent, compared with those at the 11th to 40th percentile.

    Noting that there could be “something chronic” within that group preventing them from being able to raise their incomes at a faster pace, Mr Liew said this group needed more help.

    He added that those in the middle-income groups also saw lower income growth of less than 5 per cent last year. The 41st to 50th percentile recorded a 4.8 per cent growth in income, while the 51st to 80th percentile saw an income growth of 4.6 per cent.

    While this could be too broad a group to be classified as a sandwiched class, Mr Liew said these were the people who do not qualify for Government transfers and taxes, though their income levels are not growing as fast.

    “The question is, how do you help these people who are probably not getting the transfers, but their incomes are not growing as fast … while you have other things that are moving against them, like elevated property prices and the growing cost of living in Singapore,” he added.

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com

  • Positive Outlook For Singapore Economy In Immediate Future

    Positive Outlook For Singapore Economy In Immediate Future

    With a strong pipeline of investments, the overall outlook for Singapore looks positive in the immediate future, said Minister for Trade and Industry Lim Hng Kiang.

    However, he also cautioned that Singapore faces some challenges in the immediate one to two years – these include an ageing population and the task of matching Singaporeans’ aspirations.

    Mr Lim was speaking during a visit to the Braddell Heights ward on Sunday (Feb 1) – his first visit in 20 years. During a dialogue with residents of the ward, he was asked for his take on Singapore’s future economy and population.

    Citing a 2011 World Bank study of 101 middle-income countries, Mr Lim noted that Singapore was one of just 13 countries that managed to move from middle- to high-income, over a period of 50 years.

    But he stressed that Singapore still has to be cautious: “What it means for us as we celebrate 50 years is – number one, it is not very easy to become a high income country; and number two, it is also not very easy to stay there.

    “There is a lot of competition and if you mismanage like some countries – for example Greece – you can drop very quickly and the drop need not be gradual, it can be a very severe drop over a period of five years. As we look after Singapore and we look to our future, let us be careful and reinforce those things which make us successful. Let us also be careful not to fall down the slippery slope and end up with such problems.”

    With investments coming into Singapore and local companies investing overseas, Mr Lim said he is confident that the country will be able to maintain steady growth of between two and four per cent. This is because of Singapore’s strong pipeline of investments, the Economic Development Board still being able to attract investments to Singapore, and Singapore companies investing overseas – which allow them to generate good jobs with their headquarters in Singapore to look after their overseas subsidiaries.

    However, he cautioned that there may be some ups and downs. One challenge is the slowdown in Europe, China and Japan’s economic engines.

    “We have to find new opportunities for our companies. But overall, we are still optimistic that we can generate the jobs and the big challenge now is how to match Singaporeans with these jobs,” said Mr Lim.

    “HUMAN RESOURCE IS THE BEST AND ONLY RESOURCE WE HAVE”

    Thus the need for Singapore’s focus on education and training. “Human resource is the best and only resource that we have. Other resources, like land and energy, will face greater constraints. If you look at what we’ve achieved in the last 50 years and look ahead to the next 50 years, there’s optimism we can do more,” said Mr Lim.

    He cited how in 1966, only half of Singaporeans continued education past the primary six level. This is reflected in a high percentage of the current workforce having primary and secondary level qualifications.

    But Mr Lim noted that this demographic has changed – more than 50 per cent of those who are under 30 and entering the workforce are now graduates. Another 30 per cent are polytechnic graduates, with less than 15 to 20 per cent having primary or secondary school qualifications.

    He said that while an increasingly educated workforce is welcomed, this poses challenges as well and the economy has to adapt: “If your restaurants depend currently on the older workers with less education to be serving them – 10 to 15 years from now, these people will not be in the workforce. Your new workforce are polytechnic diploma holders and graduates. Therefore, you have to restructure your service industry to cater for this new profile of workers.

    “In MTI and MOM, we are very concerned and we study all these statistics very carefully… The objective given to us is to make sure we are able to restructure the economy, make sure we can generate good jobs that satisfy and meet the aspirations of our new workers.”

    About 280 people attended the dialogue, which lasted for over an hour. Questions ranged from Singapore’s education system, to changing consumer habits and the Central Provident Fund. One participant also asked what the role of SMEs looks like in Singapore’s future. Mr Lim said that moving forward, it will be key to have a strong pipeline of startups and SMEs, and to facilitate local SME tie-ups with big companies and foreign SMEs.

     

    Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

  • Malay Man Struggles To Find Job After Losing Job To Foreign Worker

    Malay Man Struggles To Find Job After Losing Job To Foreign Worker

    I am a 52-year-old unemployed of a Malay race. I have been unemployed for 1 year plus and the help I received so far is from the CDC.

    I got retrenched from the position of safety coordinator I worked for due to end of contract and the person that is sitting on the position now is a foreign worker that I trained before.

    I guess you know how I felt.

    I am trying my best to find a job now but whenever I go for the interviews, the first question they asked me is how much are you asking for. I replied,  “Negotiable.” “ Do you want to go for the same pay as ten years ago?” how should I answer, of course not??? A foreigner took away my job that paid me $4500 per month to support my family.

    I was the sole breadwinner of the family. Due to my unemployment, my wife started to find a job and is now working. They said can give me $2000 for the job role i was in but is it enough for me? To the foreigners, $2000 to them is a considered a lot and they are very happy with it. To me? I have housing loans to pay, household expenses, my children’s education and savings for the future and the transportations as well…

    When I went to CDC to ask for help, they said there is no job so far for my job role in the safety line. I was stunned. Singapore is so big and there is no vacancy for my position?

    Work is my life, and it is about money, everything in Singapore is about money. Work to survive, work for the family etc. Although I may not have decent food for my family now, at least we still have something to eat. I hate when somebody comes to complain to me that the food is no good, I will get mad. Just eat whatever that is still on the table. Thank God there is still some food on the table.

    If the only food is pork on the table, I will eat it to live. I am not going to die. I cannot be dead. If there is only one food on the table and that is pork, I am going to eat it up. That is what my religion tells me to. You eat to live not live to eat. You just eat to live.

    Luckily I have very supportive friends and family members, we talk about employment issues and all the stress I am facing. My wife is very understanding. I don’t mind do household chores when I am unemployed as she is now working. Even when I am employed, I do the cooking. We stay by our side and face the problem together.

    I am just trying my best to work for my family and if they (the foreigners) take away my job how am I going to survive in Singapore? I did go for courses under NTUC to upgrade myself. But is it enough? I am not too sure now.

    Hamzah

     

    Source: www.transitioning.org