The Rhetoric
“US-S’pore trade pact could create 50,000 jobs…US$110 million a year in savings for local exporters, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of American companies clamouring to do business here.”
– Straits Times headlines, Mar 23, 2002The Reality
“Singapore’s jobless rate may climb from 3.7 percent as Maxtor and other companies shift production out of Singapore to take advantage of lower costs elsewhere in Asia…Singapore’s unemployment rate may rise to about 5 percent.”
– IHT quoting PM Lee Hsien Loong, Mar 7, 2005