A Short Analysis Written To The Singapore Government About Restoring Pay Scale.
Dear Government of Singapore,
Salaries in Singapore were reduced to half in 2006, in an effort to make businesses profitable on profit & loss Statements. The middle managements’ fear during recession was that a negative business cashflow would result in broken rice bowls for staff.
My Father’s GM General Manager’s salary was $24K in the past — 1995; the General Manager’s pay at CGG Veritas was cut by 33% to $16K in 2006. Two more years later in 2008, he was demoted to Marketing Manager at $8K — his watermelon salary, cut in half! Then he worked all the way to 2016 and had another recession paycut to $6K and a job role change to Business Development Advisor.
All these demotions and paycuts were done by companies in an effort to reduce staff costs. There were around seven pay-cutting recessions from 2006 to 2021. All companies took great liberty in cutting pay to save costs. The problem is… after recession, there was no restoration of peoples’ salaries to full pay scale.
There was an invisible paycut of minus -30% salary to survive the recession in 2007? Why are Singaporeans feeling the financial crunch and are struggling to make ends meet? Because… they have cut pay many times without restoring it to its full pay scale.
You must restore the salary pay scale. People are underpaid for tooooo loooong. Furthermore, most businesses have gone GA Government-Assisted Business Model to survive.
Pay Scale to the people should be restored. The Singapore Government should fund-assist all businesses in paying their staffs full pay scale. Double salary is the minimum required to survive a family comfortably. Do a study, Singapore Government: See how many times pay has been cut and then see whether pay scale has been restored. I tell you… people are receiving only around 30% of what they should be getting to live comfortably.
Note: As reported in The Straits Times newspaper on 12 August 2025, the Singapore Government has planned to increase the wages of the retail sector according to the Progressive Wage Model. This helps the workers greatly, Singapore. I commend you on your wise move and ask that progressive wages be extended to all sectors.
Why Don’t Be Afraid To Pay The Population
If you double peoples’ salaries, they spend their money at your nation’s businesses. Money flows from the peoples’ expenditures back into the businesses’ bank accounts. Usually business profit returns are 25 to 100 times the cost of the product. When businesses pay $2 for an item, they sell it for $50. Business profit on the sale is $48. Businesses earn the populations’ money back at a leveraged amount. No matter what you pay the people, the money just flows back into the businesses’ bank accounts.
Singapore suffers from an ageing population and a lack of cash for sustenance. To keep the population affluent and to keep the economy flowing, restore the recession pay scale back to 100% — use statutory money rights.
How Much Do Money Do We Need?
Double Salary is the minimum that Singaporeans need to cover family costs. Do a study. Case Study: Two working parents supporting 12 family members.
12 Family Members To Support On A Dual Income of $5.6K. Only two adults working. Parents and Grandparents are retired.
Dual Income Family:
Husband: Supervisor $3K (Warehousing)
Wife: Sales Assistant $2.6K (Supermarket)
12 Family Members Surviving On $5.6K
| My Own Grand Father & Grandmother | Grand In-Laws: Her Grandfather & Grandmother |
| My Father & Mother | Parents In-Law: Her Father & Mother |
| My Wife & Myself | Utility Bills, Food, Education, Transportation; Medical Care |
| Our Two Children: Boyboy & Ah Girl |
Total: 12 Family Members and a bank balance that is dropping every month. |
Conclusion: “Money No Enough!” At minimum… double the salaries to cover family costs comfortably. Double Salary: $5.6K x 2 = $10.6K can cover 12 family members well.
Three Actions To Consider:
- Government Mandate to businesses to double salaries — Restoring Singapore Pay Scale to 100%.
- GA Government-Assisted Business Support for all businesses big and small. (Mine included. :p I am self-employed.) In other words, government-fund the businesses so that they can pay their staffs full pay scale.
- Old people who are retired should be given staple citizen credits or pensions to cover living costs like basic necessities. How do you expect them to survive when they retire at 64 but have a lifespan till 90? Of course they die early… they run out of money in 5 years time. Bad situation: Old with no income and having no offspring to care for you.
These are the struggles of the people I know from helping many through my angel consultation sessions. Please consider these truths, Singapore Government. The people thank you!
Shalom,
Halabuth
Angel Reader
Magic Cross
www.magiccross.sg
Conclusion: During recessions, companies execute their own paycuts to save money to survive. After recession, they neglect to restore salary pay scales. Honestly, the situation for businesses is they cannot afford to restore pay scales. Most businesses were losing money in the recession economy. The people are suffering from a lack of sustenance because of ruthless pay-cutting and retrenchment without pay scale restoration. This behaviour was evident in several world recessions already. Government Fiscal Stimulus is required to restore pay scale. If not, all businesses big and small should receive GA Government Assistance Funding to stay alive. The future of the world is probably consistent monthly Government Assistance Grants for opening and running a business for the country. Because as demonstrated over time, most businesses are unable to be profitable by normal business physics. Half of all businesses fail within 5 years time.
“Where to get the money from little boy? You think we’re rich or what?”
The world is already being built with an unlimited source of free cash – if not, how did all the poor countries build their infrastructure? From their government’s business earnings?? They had few industries to start with; how can the governments earn so much money to build their countries with few money-making industries to start with? Some world organization gifted them money to build their countries. There is secret unlimited money building things in this world. But I would like to tell this godfather world organization to please sponsor the businesses large and small – they can sponsor wages, sponsor rental, give business grants, give free shops, free boats, and factory locations to businesses etc. As long as people are willing to work, they should be helped to finance their businesses. Don’t believe in laissez faire (leaving things to their own course) – nurturing the country’s businesses is like tending to a garden. You need to water the plants and put soil and fertiliser! That means, think about how to help them survive because most businesses are losing money. There is unlimited money for building your country. Direct a significant portion of this to funding businesses and raising population pay scale. I ask this of you… world government… because sustenance is not enough for many people despite all the free infrastructure. What businesses and people need is money in pocket to spend. Let’s also consider the Universal Basic Income proposal that can alleviate poverty.
Appendix A: Recession Paycuts 2006 – 2009 (hyperlink)
Appendix B: Covid-19 Recession Paycuts 2020 (hyperlink)
