Some disturbing figures:

BELIEVE it or not, some families at the bottom of the pay scale lived on an average household income of $133 a month last year.

The income of this group of workers who included cleaners, housekeeping and catering service workers and market stall workers dropped by 48 per cent from 1998.

The reasons for this fall could be pinned on the effects of the recession. But even in the non-recession year of 1990, the figure was an abysmal low at $370.

So how does a family survive on such an income?

Chief statistician Paul Cheung explained that the snapshot figures for 1999 would have been obtained when the person was not working during the survey period.

For the bottom 10 per cent, many of the households have no income, he said.

So the median income for this group would be zero. "When we take an average, the household income becomes very small,'' he said.

The Department of Statistics findings showed a marked decline in the income of low-income households.

Except for those in the top 10 per cent, all households had lower incomes last year.

The decline for the middle 60 per cent of the households was about 4 to 8 per cent.

Government measures, in the form of tax rebates, as well as HDB rental, utilities and service and conservancy charges, helped to moderate the income inequality somewhat, said Dr Cheung.

Nonetheless, compared with 1998, the income disparity in 1999 still widened after household incomes were adjusted with personal tax and other rebates.

""It was a bit like income in kind,'' he said, adding that without the Government aid, income inequalities would have widened further.

In contrast, the top 10 per cent of households saw an increase of 2.6 per cent in income.

The average monthly income for this group has been going in one direction: up.

Ten years ago, it stood at $9669; two years ago, it jumped to $15,053 and last year, it went up further to $15,451.

These high-earners would include bankers, company directors, managers heading research and development units, management executives and real estate agents.

Some disturbing figures:
From: Need for a rethink on how Govt helps poor?
ST May 31

In 1999, the top 20 per cent of households were raking in incomes 18 times over the bottom 20 per cent. This figure has been steadily inching upwards since 1990, with a noticeable spike over the last two years.

But the most striking figure is the average monthly income earned by the bottom 10 per cent of households.

At $133, this not only fell by nearly half from 1998, but is also well below subsistence level -- DOS deems four-person households with a total income of less than $1000 to be poor.

Even more startling, this figure is significantly lower than that in 1990, when it was $370. It means that in almost 10 years, those at the bottom have not made a single stride up the prosperity ladder.

In fact, if you took inflation into account, they would be significantly worse off, in real terms.

In sharp contrast, all the other income groups moved up.

So, the poorest of the poor remained stuck in an incipient poverty trap.

Should there be alarm at these findings?

Dr Paul Cheung of DOS thinks not, arguing that the vast majority of Singaporeans have benefited from economic growth.

Only a fairly small proportion -- unchanged at around 4 per cent of households -- has remained on or near the poverty line.

In addition, government measures to help households tide over the recession had cushioned the severity of wage depression and income inequality.

The Gini coefficient, which is an indicator of income inequality on a scale of zero to one, showed that government measures such as tax, housing, and utility rebates, brought the index down from 0.467 to 0.437 in 1999.