SINGAPORE: A recent Facebook post from Andrew Loh, who co-founded The Online Citizen and served as its editor for some time, in which he touched on job creation, gross domestic product (GDP) growth, and ministers’ salaries, has received a lot of attention. “Will we have a situation where ministers receive GDP Bonus while few or no jobs are created?”, he asked.
There is a growing concern that AI disruption is going to lead to wealth gaps, and this issue has been covered extensively on The Independent Singapore.
Mr Loh posted a screenshot of a 2011 article side by side with another from January 29.
In the caption to his post, Mr Loh wrote, “Dear Mr Gan, what happened to what then PM Lee said in 2011, just 15 years ago?
Ministers’ salaries have a National Bonus component, which itself is made up of 4 parts — one of which is the GDP Bonus.
So, if GDP growth no longer guarantees jobs, then will we have a situation where ministers receive a GDP Bonus while few or no jobs are created?”
The first piece Mr Loh referred to is titled “Foreigners help create jobs for S’poreans: PM Lee.” Then-Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had said at the launch of a wafer fabrication facility that for every job for a foreign worker by the project proponent, 1.5 local jobs were created.
PM Lee said at the time, “Without the foreign workers, we would not have attracted this US$3 billion investment, and Intel and Micron would have built its wafer fab elsewhere.”
In the second article, Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong told journalists during the mid-term update for the Economic Strategy Review that even if Singapore’s economy grows, it can no longer be assumed that this growth automatically generates jobs. This is due in part to fewer jobs being needed due to advances in technology, specifically artificial intelligence.
A third screenshot that Mr Loh posted concerns the salary formula for the salaries of ministers, which includes bonuses in addition to a fixed salary.
His post has since received a lot of reactions, comments, and shares, which should come as no surprise to anyone, as it touches on three issues that many Singaporeans have expressed concerns about, specifically jobs. Given the high cost of living in Singapore, this concern is a pressing one for many.
Singapore’s ministers are also among the highest, if not the highest, paid government officials across the globe. In 2024, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong was the highest-paid government leader in the world.
While the rationale behind this is to attract top talent and reduce corruption, some Singaporeans appear to feel that these high salaries contribute to ministers being out of touch with those in Singapore who earn far less. /TISG
Read also: Netizen’s thoughts on how salaries of Ministers in Singapore are calculated
