December 18, 2025

The implementation of the enhanced Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) scheme at the beginning of 2025 will benefit around half a million Singaporeans through increased payouts and expanded coverage. The income eligibility cap for low-wage workers was raised from S$2,500 to S$3,000 a month, providing greater financial support and fostering continued wage growth. During his Budget 2024 speech, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong noted that this adjustment ensures that lower-wage workers are continually covered even as their wages increase. 

Addressing the income inequality gap in Singapore has been a contentious topic among socioeconomic classes for some time. While various economic policies have been implemented to uplift lower-wage workers and reduce disparities in wages, some experts argue that inequality extends beyond economic factors to include the amount of time workers have outside of work.  

This raises an important question: Are the wage-poor also more time-poor? In ‘Time Poverty among the Young Working Poor: A Pathway from Low Wage to Psychological Well-being through Work-to-Family-Conflict’ (Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 2024), Professor Irene Y. H. Ng (NUS Social Work), Zhi Han Tan (NUS Social Service Research Centre), and Assistant Professor Gerard Chung (NUS Social Work) created a measure of work-based time poverty and conceptualised work-based time poverty to include not only the number of hours at work, but also other variables such as low wage, long hours, nonstandard hours, and uncontrollable hours.  

The researchers found that non-standard and uncontrollable hours mediate the relationship between low wage and psychological well-being for young people in Singapore. Crucially, while both low and higher wage respondents worked high numbers of hours and were generally time constrained in terms of hours, low-wage workers were additionally time poor due to the poorer quality of their work time. The low-wage young workers in this study took on jobs that involved duties with more nonstandard hours like regular graveyard shifts or unexpected work-hours changes. Such shift work often leaves them too tired to participate in family activities, which in turn imposes psychological stresses. The inability to balance work and family life can lead to reduced self-efficacy and increased self-doubt. Over time, these issues may develop into clinical mental health problems, hindering career advancement and further entrenching them in poverty. 

This situation creates a double whammy for low-wage workers, who not only face financial constraints but also experience significant time poverty. The implications of time poverty extend beyond mere inconvenience, affecting various aspects of their lives, including family dynamics, psychological well-being, and overall quality of life.

Addressing income poverty without tackling time poverty is insufficient, as wage improvement policies can lead to employer workarounds that short-change employees through practices like leave withholding, and time off penalties. Policymakers and employers must collaborate on measures to alleviate workplace time poverty beyond the control of young workers themselves. By tackling these issues alongside wage improvements, low-wage workers can improve their chances of breaking the poverty cycle and achieving greater economic mobility. 

Read the article here.