As Singaporean workers ourselves, the NTUC This Week team weighs in with our own personal thoughts on this year’s Budget announcement.
“As a working mum, I applaud the new First Step Grant for the Child Development Account. While $3,000 isn’t a big sum, it will help to defray the costs associated with babies – such as medical check-ups and necessities like diapers and milk powder. It will also be nice to have a stronger flexible work culture instilled in more companies, especially SMEs.”
- Nicolette Yeo, Editor
“While I welcome the many new schemes supporting the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises, I wonder what more can be done to encourage more SMEs to be more family-friendly so that working parents can spend more time with their children and play a larger role in nurturing the next generation.”
- Jonathan Tan, Senior Journalist
“It is good that the qualifying income ceiling for the Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) Scheme has gone up to $2,000 per month from $1,900 together with the other changes. But more can still be done to help people stuck in the low-income bracket. Many are doing thankless work that others shun. Nevertheless, they provide essential services that many take for granted – jobs like toilet cleaners, sweepers, food court cleaners and so on. Would you do it? Though they earn a pittance, they still cope with the same cost of living as everyone else.”
- Marcus Lin, Contributing Editor
“I welcome all announcements aimed at helping professionals, managers and executives, since I fall in that category of workers. The Adapt and Grow scheme is a good one as it builds on many of the old schemes which were in place during previous downturns like the Job Redesign programme which was championed by the Labour Movement. The end objective is to help the PMEs in dire need have a way out to be employed and at the same time upskill themselves.”
- Ramesh Subbaraman, Contributing Editor
“As an older worker who is re-employed, I am supportive of the extension of the Special Employment Credits offered by the Government to incentivise firms to hire experienced workers like us. However, I would also like to be able to be employed beyond the age of 67 as some of us do enjoy what we are doing and would like to continue working on.”
- Lilian Chan, Senior Associate
“While it is good to see measures like the Adapt and Grow initiative providing support for PMEs, the emphasis should be on growing our skills. The initial amount of $500 for the SkillsFuture from last year’s Budget was a good start, but I feel more credit towards upgrading ourselves couldn’t come at a better time than now, especially when the economy isn’t at its best.”
- Ryan Chan, Journalist