Household income rises amid Singapore economic rebound

The median household income grew last year in tandem with Singapore's economic recovery from the pandemic, after it had fallen in 2020 for the first time in a decade, according to new figures released by the Singapore Department of Statistics (SingStat) yesterday.

Last year, the median household income from work rose by 3.6 per cent in nominal terms, or before adjusting for inflation, to $9,520, from $9,189 in 2020 - surpassing pre-pandemic levels.

After taking into account inflation, this works out to a 1.5 per cent increase in real terms.

The household income from work includes employer Central Provident Fund contributions.

All income groups saw increases in average household income per member except top earners, who saw a 1.1 per cent drop in real income.

Meanwhile, household income inequality was at the second lowest since 2000, after accounting for government transfers and taxes.

It had hit an all-time low in 2020 with massive Covid-19 reliefs.

In 2020, the median monthly household income fell by 2.4 per cent in real terms, as Singapore struggled to cope with the pandemic.

But as the economy stabilised, household income rose last year to $9,520, exceeding the $9,425 in 2019.

Taking into account household size, the median monthly household income from work per household member rose from $2,886 in 2020 to $3,027 last year.

Household income growth was also felt by nine of the income groups, except for the top 10 per cent income group.

All resident employed households were ranked from the lowest to the highest based on their monthly household income from work per household member and broken down into 10 groups.

SingStat said that the highest earners saw a decline because the income of residents employed as legislators, administrators and managers fell.

More than 40 per cent of employed residents in the top group were in these occupations, it added.

Meanwhile, Singapore's Gini coefficient based on household income per household member was 0.444 last year, lower than the 0.452 observed in 2019 and 2020, SingStat said.

Income inequality is measured by the Gini coefficient.

A Gini coefficient equal to zero occurs when there is total income equality, and it hits one when there is total inequality.

After adjusting for government transfers and taxes, Singapore's Gini coefficient last year fell to 0.386 - an increase from the Gini coefficient of 0.375 in 2020, which was the lowest on record.

This is due to the cessation of one-off schemes introduced in 2020 to cushion the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, SingStat added.

Households continued to receive a significant amount of government transfers last year, although this was a smaller figure compared with 2020, as one-off schemes tapered off.

Resident households, including those with no employed people, received $5,096 per household member on average from various government schemes last year - less than the $6,324 received in 2020.

Those living in one-room and two-room Housing Board flats continued to get the most government transfers, SingStat said.

Last year, these households received $11,363 per household member on average from government schemes, more than double the amount received by those living in three-room HDB flats.