SINGAPORE - In 2000, the biggest proportion of resident households - 25.4 per cent - could be found in the $1,000 to $2,999 bracket of monthly income from work. Ten years later, it was those earning $3,000 to $4,999, at 16.2 per cent.
In Census 2020, the largest share - 13.9 per cent - was in the uppermost bracket of $20,000 and over. At the other end, a significant proportion (12.2 per cent) brought home no more than $3,000 a month.
What seems like a case of increasing inequality has more to do with issues of job polarisation and a wealth divide, economists and social scientists explain.
Census reports released this week indicate that Singapore's residents are now earning more, and at higher income brackets.
The share of those with a monthly household income of at least $9,000 was 44.2 per cent, up from 15.8 per cent in 2000.
Associate Professor Leong Chan-Hoong from the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) acknowledges these rising incomes mask an underlying inequality.
But he says it is as important to consider the context of median incomes - which were $7,744 for households and $2,463 when accounting for household size.
His SUSS colleague and economist Walter Theseira also points to the Gini coefficient - which measures income inequality - trending downwards over the decade to 0.35 last year.
A lower score reflects greater equality.
Two trends in income growth can be observed in Singapore, the associate professor notes.
First, the middle-class - especially the upper part - has been catching up to the top. Second, those at the top are starting from a very high base and thus seeing a much larger absolute increase at the same rate of growth.
"A 1 per cent growth on $20,000 a month is $200, as opposed to about $90 to $100 on the median household income," he says. "So in some respects, while income inequality is slowly decreasing, this may not entirely be due to incomes at the very bottom catching up enough."
Access to the upper middle class and above, however, is increasingly being defined by whether one can obtain a degree that is preferred for higher-paying jobs.
Prof Theseira points to pay differentials of 50 per cent or more between in-demand graduates from computer science, and those with arts degrees.
What follows is a widening productivity and pay gap between the top firms and jobs in Singapore, and the rest.
"I'm not so confident that public education and training efforts can actually do much about that kind of gap. It's quite a different matter to train students for a job at Google, than it is to just give our students exposure to programming courses," says the former Nominated MP. "You can't change the fact that an elite employer like Google has its pick of the best global talent, and only Singaporeans who make that cut will be hired."
Relatedly, there needs to be census data looking at how differences in wealth, education and other factors are transmitted between generations, he adds. "The big issue we don't talk about is the increasing role inherited wealth is playing in shaping people's opportunities in Singapore.
"That creates major risks for social mobility, and convergence between the ethnic groups because of historically low levels of wealth in some groups. We need more evidence on these matters."
SINGAPORE - In 2000, the biggest proportion of resident households - 25.4 per cent - could be found in the $1,000 to $2,999 bracket of monthly income from work. Ten years later, it was those earning $3,000 to $4,999, at 16.2 per cent.
In Census 2020, the largest share - 13.9 per cent - was in the uppermost bracket of $20,000 and over. At the other end, a significant proportion (12.2 per cent) brought home no more than $3,000 a month.
What seems like a case of increasing inequality has more to do with issues of job polarisation and a wealth divide, economists and social scientists explain.
Census reports released this week indicate that Singapore's residents are now earning more, and at higher income brackets.
The share of those with a monthly household income of at least $9,000 was 44.2 per cent, up from 15.8 per cent in 2000.
Associate Professor Leong Chan-Hoong from the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) acknowledges these rising incomes mask an underlying inequality.
But he says it is as important to consider the context of median incomes - which were $7,744 for households and $2,463 when accounting for household size.
His SUSS colleague and economist Walter Theseira also points to the Gini coefficient - which measures income inequality - trending downwards over the decade to 0.35 last year.
A lower score reflects greater equality.
Two trends in income growth can be observed in Singapore, the associate professor notes.
First, the middle-class - especially the upper part - has been catching up to the top. Second, those at the top are starting from a very high base and thus seeing a much larger absolute increase at the same rate of growth.
"A 1 per cent growth on $20,000 a month is $200, as opposed to about $90 to $100 on the median household income," he says. "So in some respects, while income inequality is slowly decreasing, this may not entirely be due to incomes at the very bottom catching up enough."
Access to the upper middle class and above, however, is increasingly being defined by whether one can obtain a degree that is preferred for higher-paying jobs.
Prof Theseira points to pay differentials of 50 per cent or more between in-demand graduates from computer science, and those with arts degrees.
What follows is a widening productivity and pay gap between the top firms and jobs in Singapore, and the rest.
"I'm not so confident that public education and training efforts can actually do much about that kind of gap. It's quite a different matter to train students for a job at Google, than it is to just give our students exposure to programming courses," says the former Nominated MP. "You can't change the fact that an elite employer like Google has its pick of the best global talent, and only Singaporeans who make that cut will be hired."
Relatedly, there needs to be census data looking at how differences in wealth, education and other factors are transmitted between generations, he adds. "The big issue we don't talk about is the increasing role inherited wealth is playing in shaping people's opportunities in Singapore.
"That creates major risks for social mobility, and convergence between the ethnic groups because of historically low levels of wealth in some groups. We need more evidence on these matters."