The data comes a week after the city-state reported that core inflation — which hit a 14-year high at the start of the year, quickened for the first time in nine months in October. Cost of living pressures continue to hit residents in Singapore where rentals remain high and even cheap hawker meals are disappearing, biting into salaries of residents even as nominal incomes rose.
Singaporean paycheques failed to keep pace with inflation that stayed elevated this year, with a Ministry of Manpower report showing real incomes in 2023 fell from a year ago.
Real median wage, which takes inflation into account, fell 2.3% this year while real income for lower earners fell 3%, according to the ministry’s Labor Force in Singapore advance release on Thursday.
