When you think of the change COVID-19 has done to our lives, a few things come to mind.
Being unable to travel, having restrictions on going out and super long bubble tea queues.
Oh and, of course, the economy getting hit really bad.
But funnily enough, Singapore isn’t doing as bad as you think despite the pandemic.
Latest Report Shows S’poreans’ Income Have Risen In the Last 5 Years
In fact, we might’ve even done decently earlier this year.
The Ministry of Finance (MOF) released a report on 26 Nov 2020 named The Singapore Public Sector Outcomes Review (Spor).
Normally, it’s just to see what the sector has been up to every two years. This includes key figures in such areas as the economy and social support.
However, there’s a little more this year.
They’ve added a huge extra section showing how the people and Government have come together to support each other in this virus pandemic.
Which is kind of nice, considering the doom and gloom this year brought.
It’s a rather long read, so here’s a simple breakdown.
Smaller Income Gap
I hope you like numbers.
The end of 2019 showed Singapore’s Gini coefficient dropping to around 0.398.
Reader: Wait…a Gini-what now?
The long story short is that its statistics used to show how wide income inequality is.
And while the number looks small, anything over 0.4 means the gap is too big.
Which is why it was pretty hype when it fell from 0.452 to 0.398 in 2019 after taking into account taxes and transfers.
Employment incomes have also generally gone up.
People at the bottom 20th percentile rising faster than at those at the mid-range, which then results in the aforementioned smaller income gap.
That’s not to say those at the mid-point generally didn’t increase, just slower than the former.
Also, Singapore residents’ income has also risen in the last five years.
Work Opportunities and Personal Growth
That huat doesn’t stop there.
The report also shows that more residents have been employed over the last five years too.
Over half of them are professionals, managers, executives and technicians.
The share among this employed group went up from 54.3 per cent in 2015 to 58.3 per cent in 2019.
Speaking of going up, those who’ve engaged in skill improvements have also done very well.
The end of 2019 saw around 500,000 people and 14,000 enterprises benefit from SkillsFuture initiatives.
In 2019, 86% of trainees surveyed said they could perform their work better after training.
Which then becomes like solving a maths problem sum: Better skills plus better work quality equal to better job prospects and more income.
Some Economic Success Early This Year
This isn’t to say the overall economy wasn’t hit hard, but there were some victories.
Among the world’s most competitive economies, Singapore was ranked first.
Many businesses also adapted, going online and promoting innovation.
Direct investment by Singapore-based companies in Southeast Asia increased by 37 per cent in the last five years.
On that same note, the report showed that Singapore ranked top three countries to do business in.
The Economic Development Board also secured $13 billion of fixed asset investment commitments in the first four months of 2020.
This was more than the initially projected S$8 billion to S$10 billion for the whole of this year.
Not All Sunshines and Rainbows
Still, while everything above looks great, reality still hits as we’re definitely worse off in quite a few places.
Our Real GDP growth rate is expected to reduce from 6.5 and 6 per cent this year.
Areas like air travel have also been hit really bad, especially when companies like Singapore Airlines lost over S$3.5 billion in the first half of 2020.
The report noted that amidst COVID-19, citizens and businesses should consider teaming up for the future.
It said that working together has allowed us to get through the pandemic and continue to unite for the future.
If you’re interested in the whole report, check it out here.
Featured Image: joyfull / Shutterstock.com
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