What makes for the second most expensive city-state in the world? Some thoughts...
Hint: Singapore
Will attempt to give you a picture of my thoughts of the place, having been born here and lived here for 30 odd years.
Source for city cost ranking accessed 13 July 2024- World's Most Expensive Cities for Expats 2024
First- up- - Some Good Things about the City!
Have the perception that gender equality is much better in areas of education and job opportunities, compared to other big Asian countries such as Japan and South Korea. The caveat is that females are expected to do much more of the domestic burden at the same time, compared to males.
Our passport does offer visa- free travel to many countries around the world.
Hospital care is expensive but generally good, as long as you fork out money for an expensive private insurance policy which I do. ><
No natural disasters as we are sheltered by the sea and other countries. ( This is an important factor to lots of people when I talk to them.)
Quite a number of big supermarkets open 24-hours, there is no such thing as early closing on Sundays. Of course, the opening hours are tailored to people here who work long months and hours which is a con.
Now, let's come to the unique characteristics of the second most expensive place in the world for 2024 and factors that make it so expensive and unique.
1. Wages for many sectors of society are low comparatively in wealthy Singapore thus society is very stratified and one would ideally have a higher management role in order to lead the 'shiny' Singapore life. This is one key reason why Asian societies are considered to be mercenary and materialistic by many other parts of the world.
To the best of my knowledge, such lowly-paid sectors include some teacher assistants (2000 plus monthly wage), some nursery/childcare school teachers (2000 plus), retail, hospitality, hospitality cleaning services, food delivery, the food and beverage service line, customer service line and various entry-level or mid-level jobs.
Not going to add in statistics because this is just an overview of my experience having lived here and the life of an independent critical political commentator here does not look that long-lived to me. You can easily find the salary range when you look at job websites here.
Recently, I met a GRAB driver who was driving as his second job, after he knocked off his regular 9 to 5 job in order to make ends meet.Have seen high salaries of expatriate and even fresh-graduate salaries being shared on online forums but am not sure how wide-spread it is; as many people with families I talk to have been grousing about the high costs in Singapore.
There has been a series of posters plastered all over the Northeast train line here recently, outlining wage increases for low-wage workers. (Circa mid-2024)
When I recall the advertised salary of a food and beverage service line worker (NON-supervisory role) of around 3000 in my secondary school days (20 plus years ago)- the wages were higher. My exact thought as I walked past that advertisement in my secondary school clothes- I won't starve if things don't work out, that salary looks like it could work.
However, the advertised salary for such workers at many outlets nowadays is only about 2300 to 2500 monthly at many food outlets. It does make me wonder if there is a limit to the number of trade trainees for very low wages of less than 2000 from other countries that employers hire due to hiring loopholes for many industries and employers' addiction to cheap labour. Currently, there seems to be on a drive to push wages up, hiring Singaporeans and those with permanent resident status.
Wages are so low for many low-wage immigrants filling jobs in Singapore for the past decades and there has been a protest and discontent in the past, even in Singapore, where expressing one's opinion that is not politically correct could be considered suicidal. >< Currently, the bus companies in Singapore are trying to hire more long-term residents who settle here to fill the bus driver slots at advertised salaries that could possibly go up to 4500/ month. The advertisements can easily be found.
Extracted from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Singapore_bus_drivers%27_strike on 13 July 2024
The city-state I live in started out as an entreport/fishing village for people to migrate to so it has always been an immigrant nation. Though the people migrating in then really form a common bond and identity in this new nation, in contrast to the daily workers streaming in now across the open border where people can cross into Singapore in half an hour, take up jobs eg.roadshow assistant for the day and go back at night/ stay at a friend’s place.
Wages could be depressed when there is an endless supply of labour which causes migrants to stick to their own groups and promote their own groups to survive; in turn squeezing equal opportunity and breeding wage stagnation for everyone in the long run unless one has a comfortable job or business; thus making ends meet the primary goal of numerous people here instead of achieving more lofty aims like happy families, societal equality and life fulfilment.
To be honest, shutting the doors sounds inhumane and comes with cons too though capitalist elites' love for cheap labour plays a large part in inequality. Perhaps, there should be a minimum wage that people know will be instituted and fair employment laws that more people have faith in, so workers are protected from an endless onslaught of cheap labour sources.
People who look at Singapore from afar always say there's no homeless here. In my school days, when I left school late, I can see an elderly homeless woman sleeping there. Sadly, in recent times, have also seen an increase in the number of people selling knick-knacks/ tissue packs sitting on the pavement that is a common Singaporean sight in numerous heartland neighbourhoods.
I myself am still learning how to eke out a better living for myself in the world partly because of the costs of living in Singapore and because I think this would make me more acceptable to my future partner.
However, I think the dubious idea of linking some jobs to lower salaries and forcing people to be able to move up the corporate ladder or own a business to gain a decent income to lead an okay life is detrimental to the concept of human value and the value of human work.
While travelling previously, I had a conversation with a museum bus driver from Australia who had moved to Danmark to be with his wife. He was feeling a little down on being just a bus driver but the good thing is the wages for jobs across the board are more decent there and he gets to be with his beloved.
2. Does a new standard Toyota Camry Hybrid cost over $183K in Singapore?!
Source: Google Screenshot in Singapore, 31 Oct 2024