Chart of the Day: Real total wages down by 0.4% in 2012

After a good performance in 2011.

According to MoM's report on wage practices, after adjusting for inflation, real total wages (including employer CPF contributions) declined by 0.4% in 2012, after rising by 0.9% in 2011.

It also said that the adjustment for inflation was made using the CPI for all items. When adjusted using CPI les s imputed rentals on OOA, which relates more directly to the actual cash expenditures of households, real total wages (including employer CPF contributions) rose by 0.5%, after increasing by 1.9% in 2011.

"Excluding employer CPF contributions, real tot al wages declined by 0.8%, while real basic wages dipped by 0.1% in 2012. When adjusted for inflation using CPI less imputed rentals on OOA, the real total and basic wage changes were pos itive at 0.2% and 0.9% respectively," it said.