The Ministry of Manpower has sneakily removed the statistics of unemployment rate for Singapore citizens, and now only group locals as “residents” including foreigners who hold permanent residency. In the latest employment report published yesterday (Nov 30), no statistics for Singapore citizens were found and all traces of citizen employment rate on the MOM statistic page has been removed.
The move is the latest propaganda effort to make Singaporean citizens “feel better” about the economy, in preparation for the coming GST hike announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. According to sources close with the ministry, the censorship of the manpower data is sanctioned by Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say.
In the employment report, the MOM made several unverified statements without providing statistics to back government policies like “Adapt & Grow”:
“The unemployment and long-term unemployment rates 1 for PMETs showed signs of
improvement in June 2017, after trending up in recent years. This could have been aided by
enhancements to Adapt & Grow programmes which assist PMETs secure employment. On the
other hand, the unemployment rate for non-PMETs rose in June 2017 as job vacancies for nonPMETs
continued to decline. However, they are unlikely to be unemployed for long, as their
long-term unemployment rate was unchanged.”
The report also used different terms to confuse readers, with one line in the report claiming unemployment rate has reached 4.2%:
“On a non-seasonally adjusted basis,12 the unemployment rate also rose from
4.1% in June 2016 to 4.2% in June 2017, while the long-term unemployment rate was unchanged
at 0.8% over the same period.”
As of Nov 30, the MOM said that unemployment rate is now at a 7-year-high at 3.1% for residents. As Singapore citizens unemployment rate is always 0.2% higher than Permanent Residents, the estimated unemployment rate for citizen is at least 3.3%.
Dishonesty and censorship are common tactics employed by the dictatorship to maintain an image for Singaporeans. The fudging of statistics is also common in the measurement of rail reliability and transport fare calculation. The Singapore government has often tweaked formulas and measurements that do not reflect upon them favourably. Fake surveys is also a common tool employed by the government and it’s government-linked academic institutions. The majority of the Singapore citizens believe in the 154th-ranking state media and accepts whatever content from the government as the truth.