A read into today STRAITS TIMES - front page headlines read:
» Prime News
Inflation erodes real gains in wages
WAGES here have risen by close to 11 per cent, the highest in almost a decade. But the impact of soaring food and fuel prices meant that for employees in manufacturing, transport and administrative jobs, their real wages - pay minus the effect of inflation - actually fell.
Aiyo! my pay rise is not even anything close to the average as claimed by the papers. (Leave me wondering how reliable is the source? Or are they "inflating" the figures? haha....) But no doubt the inflation is really escalating. (This needs not be reported at all, just a visit to the hawker centre will shows you the facts) Hubby always grumble that the real percentage of increase in fuel doesn't match the percentage increase of the food. What he's referring to is that fuel may increase 10% but hawker increase is abt 20% and so on....... Never really do the calculation, but i told him well, there's more than 1 item that goes into the food item and since everything is increasing, when adding all the increase, it does justify the hawker's increase. I should say the ultimate person to suffer is the end consumers..... and especially consumers like me ......... who doesn't enjoyed a high percentage of pay rise but still needs to suffer the same effect of inflation.
