SINGAPORE: The amount of financial aid for the involuntarily unemployed is meant to support jobseekers while ensuring that welfare dependency does not kick in, said economists and sociologists.
Under the new SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support Scheme, lower- and middle-income workers who have lost their jobs would get up to S$6,000 (US$4,600) over a period of up to six months.
This was announced by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong during his National Day Rally speech on Sunday (Aug 18), in a major shift in Singapore’s approach towards helping the unemployed.
Eligible jobseekers must also do their part by going for training, career coaching and job matching services.
Experts told CNA that the amount of financial assistance cannot be too high or last for too long, as it could lead to undesirable outcomes.
If the amount is too high, behaviours might change and a worker’s motivation to keep up the job search might be lowered, explained Mr Christopher Gee, deputy director at the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS).
“Also, the higher the amount of financial support, the more costly the programme will be,” said Mr Gee, who is also a senior research fellow heading the Governance and Economy department.
Sociologist Tan Ern Ser noted that with the maximum financial support of up to S$1,000 a month, retrenched workers are likely to have to reach into their savings or depend on family members for support.
“If it is just at most S$1,000 a month, then it is best seen as a token sum, especially with the inflation that is still with us, and therefore unlikely to lead to a mindset of welfare dependency,” he said.
“The measure seems more like a symbolic gesture, and sticking close to the fundamentals of self-help as the first line of defence,” added Dr Tan, who is an adjunct principal research fellow and academic adviser at Social Lab at IPS.
Manpower Minister Tan See Leng will provide more details about the new scheme.
According to Workforce Singapore’s (WSG) website on Monday morning, the scheme would provide support to retrenched Singaporeans who were previously drawing an average monthly income of below S$5,000, while they look for a new job.
However, as of 3pm on Monday, the S$5,000 figure was removed, and the website stated that the scheme is for “lower- to middle-income retrenched Singapore citizens”.
Responding to CNA’s queries, a spokesperson from WSG said: “More details of the scheme will be made known at (the Ministry of Manpower’s) upcoming announcement and details of the event will be made known very soon.”