Poverty Situation in Singapore
December 8th, 2007 | by WoonZai |Median monthly starting pay for cleaners and labourers has in fact fallen by nearly one-third, from $860 to $600, between 1996 and last year. To save money, he has stopped eating out for all his meals. Dinner is a simple meal of bread and Milo. To save electricity, the bachelor does not switch on the lights in his one-room Telok Blangah flat. Even then, he finds himself running out of money before the month is up. ‘I’m already very thrifty but the money is still not enough,’ he said in Hokkien. Source: We can barely stay afloat. Straits Times
Increase in cost of living:
THE cost of meals at hawker centres and restaurants look certain to rise after food supply costs, particularly for imports, rocketed for the second month in a row.
The Singapore DSPI (Domestic supply price index) showed that prices of live animals were 24.5 per cent higher in Oct than a year ago, while those of dairy produce and eggs soared 41.6 per cent.
Vegetables and fruit prices rose 5 per cent. Fish, however, cost 0.5 per cent less than a year ago.
Source: Food retail prices set to rise as supplies get more costly. Straits Times
Increase in cost of doing business:
SINGAPORE companies are under pressure to raise their wages more than they had earlier expected, in view of higher inflation next year, said human resources services company Hewitt.
Source: Pressure on S’pore firms to raise wages by over 5%. Straits Times.
More negative commentaries on the poverty situation in Singapore. Enough said. No comments. Could be interesting to do a project estimating the cost of living in Singapore later on.
