Singapore has long touted its working society as a meritocracy, but some say the result has been fast widening gap between rich and poor. Despite a decade of usually fast economic growth, Singapore's Gini coefficient - a statistical measure of income inequality - has increased in the past decade and at 0.48 is way below other, more equitable high GDP-per-capita Asian countries such as Japan and South Korea.Minister mentor and ex-prime minister Lee Kuan Yew last year rejected the idea of setting up minimum wages and said the widening social divide is inevitable in a maturing economy such as Singapore's. While workers in developed Western countries tend to have social safety nets to fall back on in times of economic need, Singapore has eschewed welfare programs - though government spending on assistance programs rose by over 30% during the recession.
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