The rising cost of living continues to be the biggest concern for many working adults in Singapore, but in 2024, retrenchments and employment stability are increasingly a concern for many.

National Trades Union Congress assistant secretary-general Patrick Tay said: “For the broad middle of professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) and in particular those in the above 50 group, caregiving responsibilities, rising cost of living (they don’t benefit as much from the many social transfers) as well as employment and employability will be top of their minds.”

He added that for younger PMETs, their concerns tilt towards employment and career progression, flexible work and overall work-life balance and mental health.

“Strengthening support in these spaces would be a boon for them,” he said.

Associate Professor (Practice) Terence Ho from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore said that while much support has already been announced or disbursed in the past few years through government handouts under the Assurance Package, further support whether in the form of cash, vouchers or rebates would be welcome. 

“Retraining is also a priority for both groups, given a fluid labour market affected by technology and restructuring. We hope to see fleshing out of the Forward SG recommendations on SkillsFuture enhancements to support full-time or more substantial training programmes,” he said.

Associate Professor Walter Theseira, a labour economist from the Singapore University of Social Sciences, said that while there are many programmes available for working adults to seek training, “we don’t have a lot of support in the way of actually covering people’s incomes while they are in training”.

“The biggest issue is that when you look at some of the government proposals or plans already announced for this year, it’s a bit unclear how exactly the PMETs will benefit from some of these proposals,” he said.

“When we look at what has been discussed about unemployment support so far, it looks like support will be targeted more at lower- to middle-income workers. So, it will be unclear whether PMETs qualify, or even if you do qualify, it will be likely that the quantum support will be inadequate for most people.”

Mr Isaac Tng, 36, an entrepreneur in the creative industry, called for more support for wages in the form of grants or incentives.

“There’s a lot of rising costs and, appropriately, employers want to increase the wages of their staff to support them,” he said.

But margins for business owners are getting squeezed as it becomes harder to pass down higher wage costs to price-sensitive customers.

“As a result, it becomes hard to increase wages. Perhaps some consideration into implementing better schemes to support progressive wages (and not just for lower-income workers) would be good,” said Mr Tng.

For young seniors, or the group defined as being between the ages of 50 and 60, one challenge is finding meaningful work that allows them to use the skills they have developed over the years.

Prof Theseira said this group faces unique challenges because unlike the older generation, many young seniors are medium-skilled for the most part, with some high-skilled workers. They have higher expectations for the jobs they are doing, and are less likely to be willing to take lower-skilled jobs.

He said: “Like many of the older Singaporeans, they face challenges like age discrimination in the workplace, questions about whether they can continue in their current roles, seniority and salaries and so on until they reach retirement age.

“Because of the greater levels of education and higher expectations, they also have much higher demands or expectations, in terms of retirement adequacy, in terms of healthcare and so on.”

Prof Theseira said that along with encouraging those of this group to work for as long as possible and as long as they want to, it is also important to try to encourage industry businesses to configure jobs in a way that actually makes it more acceptable for them to work longer.

“Without the employers being willing to do that, then that’s going to be a big mismatch problem.”

He added that more attention could be paid to skills matching for this group, as well as incentivising the hiring of this group.

Platform workers face a host of changes in the second half of this year when recommendations, including contributions to the Central Provident Fund (CPF) and insurance for work injuries, kick in.

Platform workers are self-employed, and include delivery workers, private-hire car drivers and taxi drivers. They use online platforms, which are operated by platform companies, to match them with demand for their delivery and transport services.

According to the advance release of the Ministry of Manpower’s labour force report in November, there were 70,500 platform workers in 2023, making up 2.9 per cent of the resident labour force.

From the second half of 2024, those below 30 years old will have to start contributing to their CPF, while others can choose to opt in.

Platform companies will also have to chip in with their share of worker’s CPF contribution starting at 3.5 per cent.

Also from the second half of 2024, the platforms have to buy insurance for their workers to cover workplace accidents and injuries.

All these measures will push up the operating costs for platform companies, said a spokesperson for the Digital Platforms Industry Association.

The spokesperson said these costs will have to be “co-shared among the Government, platform companies and consumers”.

While platform workers should be entitled to medical benefits such as paid sick leave and claims for medical expenses like other salaried employees, some, such as foodpanda delivery rider Oscar Goh, prefer not to have any sick leave and medical benefits.

Mr Goh, 44, is concerned platform costs will rise if these benefits are mandatory. “These costs would need to be passed on and will have an impact on how much I can earn,” he said. 

Mr Bay Cheng Huat, 38, a private-hire driver with Gojek, also expressed concern over rising costs. “Our overheads are rising due to the increase in the goods and services tax, higher car rental rates, COE and fuel prices.”

He hopes there will be some support from the Government in the form of reliefs or lump-sum rebates.

“I will still choose to be a private-hire driver as it gives me more freedom and flexibility with my time. I left my previous job because it was tiring to constantly apply for leave to accompany my mother to the polyclinic. It’s better to be a private-hire driver as I have full control over my schedule.”

That said, platform work is not sustainable in the long term, and Prof Theseira said the Government could look into ways to encourage platform workers to find regular employment.

These could be in the form of subsidised skills training programmes and/or income support while they undergo training.

If they go for training, they are not earning an income, but they still need to support themselves and their families during this period, Prof Theseira said.