SINGAPORE – The Budget aims to help Singapore prepare for an increasingly high-tech future but it also recognises that growth can bring costs to society that need to be addressed.
The points were made by panellists at a roundtable on Feb 19 that focused on measures that look to underpin the country’s future, including additional assistance for those who risk falling behind.
Associate Professor Walter Theseira of the Singapore University of Social Sciences said the Budget is like a “down payment” on plans that will be realised in the future, one being building employment resilience and helping lower-wage workers.
Lower-wage workers will soon receive larger Workfare payouts, noted last week’s Budget. The payments, which depend on age and wages, will be enhanced across all age bands. Older workers and people with disabilities will continue to receive the highest payments.
These enhancements will apply to work done from Jan 1, 2025, and will benefit around half a million Singaporeans.
Workfare helps to supplement the incomes and Central Provident Fund (CPF) savings of lower-wage Singaporean workers to encourage them to work regularly.
Singapore Business Federation chief executive Kok Ping Soon told the roundtable organised by The Straits Times and UOB: “I think we need to continue to look after the vulnerable segments of our population – the lower-wage workers as well as the seniors. The question is where is the fair share of that burden of the increasing costs.”
He noted that the Budget contained measures to help employers defray these costs, including a $1 billion top-up to the Progressive Wage Credit Scheme fund. The scheme, introduced in 2022, involves the Government co-funding the pay increases of lower-wage workers.
The wage ceiling for the scheme will be raised from $2,500 to $3,000, while the co-funding levels will be upped from a maximum of 30 per cent to a maximum of 50 per cent.
“For small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), I think certainly more help will be welcome,” Mr Kok said.
“But I think, (over the) longer term, the sort of help that we should give companies is not just in terms of supporting their wage costs, but looking at real changes for both employers and employees to improve productivity.
“We all know the only way for sustained wage increase is through productivity gains, and I think that ought to be the kind of focus.”
But the wage structure itself should also be rebalanced to accommodate higher pay for Singaporeans who have less formal educational qualifications, said Prof Theseira. He noted that this can refer to those who are working more with their hands in manual skills-based roles and those who are in the “heart sectors, the touch sectors”, such as social services, for instance.
Prof Theseira said: “What are we going to do in practice to uplift their wages? I wonder whether we could even have, for example, a Progressive Wage Model for certain kinds of jobs in these sectors to actually make it more concrete.”
He said there are already hints of a wage ladder for certain technical jobs, but added: “But can we expand this concept further so that we cover more Singaporeans in these jobs because it is not just about upskilling.
“Upskilling, of course, is important, but we don’t want to say that the only way to have a job where you can feed your families is you’ve got to get the diploma or degree.
“It also has to be about respecting all the Singaporeans across the spectrum, and making sure they’ve got viable pathways to basically maximise their own potential. So I think this is something I hope to see later this year.”
Panellist Irene Tai, corporate tax partner at PwC Singapore, said she hopes to see the measures creating solidarity among people in the community, and between multinationals, local enterprises and the labour force: “Hopefully, that all comes together and (rekindles) that ‘kampung spirit’... I want to see more of that.”
