April 25, 2023

A team of NUS FASS researchers associated with the NUS Social Service Research Centre discussed recommendations for the Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) at a roundtable event held at FASS. The research team comprises Dr Ong EeCheng (NUS Economics and Social Service Research Centre), Associate Professor Irene Ng (NUS Social Work and Social Service Research Centre), and Mr Tan Zhi Han (Social Service Research Centre).

Their recommendations draw from their project ‘Building a Resilient Workforce: Ensuring Opportunities for Lower-Income Workers and their Families’, which is funded by Leap201, a local philanthropy organisation. ‘NUS researchers propose ways to enhance Workfare for low-income Singaporeans and their families’ (Straits Times, April 2023) reports on the four core recommendations the researchers put forth.

The first recommendation is to restructure the WIS to serve household needs, rather than individuals. Currently, the WIS supplements the incomes of individual workers. However, the researchers note that one worker could be supporting their family, which may include young children or elderly relatives. Restructuring the WIS in this way would allow these breadwinners to work and support their household needs better.

Secondly, the researchers recommend abolishing age-bracketed payouts. The current WIS scheme gives out more to older workers. The team recommends phasing this out as pre-independence cohorts of workers, which attained lower levels of education, will “age out” of the workforce over time.

Thirdly, the researchers recommend indexing the WIS to account for inflation. This will allow workers on the scheme to adapt their household finances better to the rising cost of living. It is especially important to do this as the rising cost of living impacts low-wage workers the hardest.

Finally, the researchers note that the current WIS payout rate is 40% in cash and 60% in Central Provident Fund (CPF), a compulsory savings scheme. They suggest inverting the ratio such that families under the WIS would have access to more cash so that they can afford more immediate goods. The researchers argue that the potential of having more money on hand today through working would increase the incentives to work in low-wage jobs, which in turn could encourage workforce participation in this area as well.

Read the article here: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/nus-researchers-propose-ways-to-enhance-workfare-for-low-income-singaporeans-and-their-families