Can S'pore be an icon for service productivity?

OVER the last months, I have been puzzled by some of the macro-economic statistics for Singapore for 2015. First, we learned that gross domestic product (GDP) grew by about 2 per cent. Manufacturing output declined by 4.8 per cent, but services GDP grew by 3.6 per cent. These levels of growth have been with us for several quarters and anchor us firmly in the group of the traditional industrialised countries with relatively low growth. Compare, for example, GDP growth for 2015 of 1.7 per cent in Germany and 2.2 per cent in the United Kingdom.

Second, I saw the recent statistics on the growth of the median gross income from work. I was, of course, very happy that we are better off and that our median income grew in 2015 by 7 per cent in real terms. But that is where I am puzzled: how can we be paid more i…