Figures revealed yesterday by the Minister for Trade and Industry showed that the share of Singapore's gross domestic product (GDP) which went to wages had grown only slightly in the decades between 1980 and 2009. In the 1980s, the wage share of GDP averaged 41.8 per cent; this "rose slightly" to 41.9 per cent in the 1990s, said Mr Lim Hng Kiang. Between 2000 and 2009, the average wage share grew to 42.5 per cent, Mr Lim added when responding to a question from SMU Assistant Professor of Law and NMP Eugene Tan.