The Rhetoric
“A worker in Singapore will cost $1000 per month or more, but there is a bountiful stream of workers in China who will gladly work for $100 per month … that is why we should lower our wage costs.”
– Labour chief Lim Boon Heng, Straits Times, June 17 2002The Reality
“Singapore ninth most expensive city in the world.”
– Economic Intelligence Unit, Jan 2001