Let's do the numbers first and see how we can manipulate these numbers to report whatever we want. To make things simpler, I shall compare figures from 2006 and 2007. Figures in 2006 are in brackets and values are rounded off to the nearest thousands (or hundreds).
Total Employment = 2 730 000 (2 496 000)*Denotes derived numbers based on the statistics reported
Foreign Employment = 901 000 or 33.0% (756 000 or 30.3%)
Total unemployment rate on December = 1.7% (2.6%)
Resident unemployment rate on December = 2.4% (3.6%)
Total Labour Force = 2 780 000 (2 560 000)*
Total unemployment = 47 200 or 1.7% (67 800 or 2.6%)*
Total Resident Labour Force = 1 877 000 (1 807 000)*
Total Resident unemployment = 45 600 or 2.4% (68 600 or 3.8%)#
Total Foreign unemployment = 1 600 or 0.2% (-800 or 0?%)
#Figures slightly different from reported in the statistics.
Statistics obtained from MOM press release
So some selective headlines could be
"Singaporeans made up for more than 90% of unemployed" versus "Unemployment rate hits a new low"
"Less than 40% of jobs created goes to Singaporean" versus "A record number of jobs created"
Both will be sensational news but tells a completely different story based on similar figures. That's why there are lies, damn lies and statistics.
For me, the glass is not half full nor half empty, it's always filled with 50% water and 50% air. (Even in vacuum, a particle and an anti particle can spontaneously be created and annihilated within a time period t such that HUP is obeyed hence the glass is never half empty, besides, it will always be filled with the background radiation left from the big bang too!)
Labels: Blog - Random Rants
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