SINGAPORE: Salary growth among middle-income workers here outpaced that of other income groups between 2011 and 2021, according to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in a report.
An analysis of average incomes over that period showed that nominal income, meaning it is not adjusted for inflation, for this “broad middle” group climbed 42%, topping the 36% growth for earners in the lower and higher brackets, the central bank said in its biannual macroeconomic review released on Monday.
The “broad middle” in the report refers to Singapore resident employees in the 21st to 80th income percentiles of their age cohorts.
Nearly half of these middle-income workers moved up the earnings ladder, with 45% in 2011 climbing by at least one income decile or position in the subsequent 10 years, and 23% advancing by two income deciles or more, added MAS.
Another 20% to 25% of these workers have remained in the same income decile since 2011, while the rest moved down one or more deciles.
Middle-income workers who moved to more productive or larger firms saw their incomes more than double over the 10 years.
In comparison, workers who remained in less productive or smaller firms saw smaller income growth of about 50% over the same period.
From 2011 to 2021, middle-income workers largely remained in the same education band, but those who underwent further education saw a larger increase in average incomes than those who did not, MAS also noted.
The central bank said Singapore’s economic growth slowed to an average of 3.7% a year for the period from 2011 to 2022, down from 5.9% in the decade before, and would continue to slow in the next 10 years as demographic constraints such as a low birth rate and an ageing population become “more binding”. — The Straits Times/ANN
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