OPINION: Alex Au puts MOM's income and employment statistics under the microscope

Yawningbread.wordpress.com, 19 Oct 2011
Reading it, I got the impression it was a response to the rising criticism over the growing income inequality in Singapore, one of the issues that had set the tone for the general election in May this year. Peppering the report were regular references to the hoped-for takeaways: (a) things are improving and (b) things aren’t as bad as elsewhere.
Suspicion was aroused the moment I tried to scroll to the end of the report. A half-decent report that claims to interpret statistical data should have statistical tables in its appendix, the same way a company’s annual report should include a thick second section detailing its financial statements and notes after having presented its fancy bar charts in its front section (the rule of thumb being that every claim made in the fore section should be supported by an exhaustive table in the rear half). Full story