Trends in income disparity and equality enhancing (?) education policies in the development stages of Singapore

Abstract

This paper examines the trends in income diversity in Singapore at the total and disaggregated level using Labour Force Survey data. The income inequality in Singapore is found to be significantly high. One reason is the selective migration policy of the government of Singapore. The government has made conscious efforts to bring equality in educational opportunity through various policies. This paper examines the effectiveness of these policies. It was found that the academic ability of children is not uniformly represented across different parental educational background groups, with students from favoured backgrounds being increasingly represented in the top strata of every cohort. Thus they remain the major beneficiaries of the education policies, which perhaps increases the income disparity further. It is concluded that the Yearly Awards scheme is better than the Edusave Entrance Scholarship for Independent Schools as the possible benefits accruing to wealthier households are limited for the former. © 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.