In-Work Poverty and the Challenges of Getting By Among the Young Symposium 2025
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About the Symposium
This Symposium will present new findings from the research study on “In-Work Poverty and the Challenges of Getting By Among the Young” (IWP). Funded by the MOE Social Science Research Thematic Grant, the IWP research study has been ongoing since 2019 to gain new insights on the kinds of “in-work” poverty and challenges faced by low-income lower-educated young workers in Singapore (aged between 21 and 44).
Opening Presentation
In-Work Poverty and the Challenges of Getting by Among the Young - Highlights from Recent Reports
We highlight 14 key findings from our recent reports. The findings show that while there are improvements in many conditions since 2021, there are also reversals and emerging trends. Most significantly, a college premium persists, not only in terms of wages, but also other conditions such as differential work-family-interface, psychological well-being and cost-of-living concerns. This persistently wide college premium suggests the importance of layering onto universal policies such as SkillsFuture progressive designs to target more vulnerable workers.
Professor,
Department of Social Work, NUS
Research Associate,
Social Service Research Centre, NUS
Irene Y.H. Ng is a Professor of Social Work and Steering Committee Member of the Social Service Research Centre in the National University of Singapore. As a poverty scholar, she has researched on welfare recipients, in-work poverty, social safety nets and digital access.
Zhi Han is a Research Associate of the In-Work Poverty and the Challenges of Getting By research project at the Social Service Research Centre (SSR), National University of Singapore. He is also involved in SSR’s conferences and research capability development service. His research interests include occupational and educational inequalities, social mobility, and wage policies.
Moderator: Dr Gerard Chung
Assistant Professor,
Department of Social Work, NUS
Gerard Chung is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Social Work in NUS. He graduated with a PhD in social work from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He then did his postdoctoral at A*STAR, and Social Service Research Centre. Before academia, he practiced as a social worker at Fei Yue Family Service Centre.
His research focus on the intersection between technology and social work. He is still in love with doing social work practice on the frontline and maybe one day he will return!
Panel 1: Origins, Family, Work
Understanding Precarious Work Through Labour Regimes and Risks
Drawing on findings from my Masters’ thesis, study dives into the experiences of young low wage workers in Singapore. Using the concepts of labour regimes and risks, the study highlights how low wage workers’ experience of precarity in their work is mediated by their interactions with state policies, companies and other co-workers. The presentation examines the nature of precarious work, motivations for entering precarious work, and the effects of precarious work on individuals.
Research Associate,
Social Service Research Centre, NUS
Asher is a Research Associate at the National University of Singapore (NUS) Social Service Research Centre. He graduated with a Master of Arts in Sociology at Nanyang Technology University. Asher’s research interests lie in social policy, poverty, and inequality. He is currently involved in the qualitative research portion of the In-Work Poverty study. His past research experience includes housing insecurity, youth risks, and an evaluation of financial assistance delivery models via social service organisations in Singapore.
How Husbands' Shifts, Gigs, and Office Work Affect Domestic Division of Labour
This presentation examines how husbands’ work conditions shape wives’ satisfaction with their involvement in caregiving and domestic duties. Based on paired in-depth interviews with 15 couples where husbands are engaged in platform economy work, shift work, or managerial/technical roles, contrasts are made between different kinds of work and their impact on the division of domestic labour and caregiving responsibilities. The qualitative enquiry demonstrates that while traditional norms of domestic work still persist, job design, supervisor support, income security, and husbands’ family-oriented dispositions can drive more equitable divisions and greater partner satisfaction and well-being.
Principal Research Fellow,
Institute of Policy Studies,
Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, NUS
Mathew Mathews has been involved in over 70 research projects examining social policy issues ranging from social cohesion to family. Current projects he is leading that examine low-income families include a three-year ethnographic study on work and savings behaviour, a longitudinal panel study examining the pathways and trajectories of households and the effectiveness of an intervention directed at developing the competencies of low income parents seeking to assist their young children's mathematical literacy. Mathew is active on various boards including the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Council and the MoneySense Council. He is President of a social service agency, Alive Community Network.
Adverse Childhood Experiences and the Well-being of Young Workers: Exploring the Longitudinal Impact on Health and Work-Related Functioning
This Singapore study examined how Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) affect young workers' health and job outcomes. Among participants, 59% reported at least one ACE, with higher rates among females, younger workers, those with lower education, and low-wage earners. ACEs negatively impacted both physical and mental health. Poor physical health reduced self-efficacy, while poor mental health decreased optimism and job security. The research demonstrates ACEs' lasting effects on workplace functioning and suggests employers should implement trauma-informed care and stress management programs to support affected workers and promote healthier work environments.
Assistant Professor,
Department of Social Work, NUS
Gerard Chung is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Social Work in NUS. He graduated with a PhD in social work from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He then did his postdoctoral at A*STAR, and Social Service Research Centre. Before academia, he practiced as a social worker at Fei Yue Family Service Centre.
His research focus on the intersection between technology and social work. He is still in love with doing social work practice on the frontline and maybe one day he will return!
Moderator: A/P Vincent Chua
Associate Professor,
Department of Sociology
and Anthropology, NUS
Vincent Chua is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology & Anthropology at the National University of Singapore. His research examines social inequalities, focusing on how social networks both reinforce and reduce disparities through mechanisms of social reproduction and social mixing. He has a PhD in sociology from the University of Toronto.
Panel 2: Social and Human Capital
Ties that Pay: The Effects of Ethnic Social Capital on Wages
This study examines the relationship between social capital and wages in Singapore, with ethnicity as a moderator. Grounded in Lin’s Model of Social Capital and Bonilla-Silva’s theory of racialised social structures, survey data from 1,620 working adults aged 21–38 were analysed using multivariate regression and moderation analysis. Findings reveal that the wage returns from weak ties were weaker for Malays (–$502) and Indians (–$473) compared to Chinese workers, while returns from strong ties were also weaker for Indians (–$504). These results underscore how racialised structures constrain returns from social capital and highlight the need for targeted, strategic interventions to expand minorities’ access to resource-rich networks.
Student,
Department of Social Work &
Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, NUS
Amalia is a student in the Concurrent Degree Programme at NUS, pursuing a B.Soc.Sci in Social Work and a Master in Public Policy. Her research interests centre on inequality, race, and social inclusion, with a focus on how structural factors shape lived experiences. Outside her studies, she enjoys film photography, watching films, and discovering new bakeries and coffee spots in Singapore.
Sources of Inter-ethnic Social Mixing in Singapore
This study examines how institutional logics—the organising principles that guide action within institutions—shape the formation of inter-ethnic ties in Singapore. We compare three key sites of social life: schools, workplaces, and voluntary associations. While all offer opportunities for inter-ethnic contact, the nature and quality of these ties depend on the dominant logic at play. Schools and workplaces operate primarily under professionalising, classificatory, and market-oriented logics, which often reproduce ethnic stratification despite surface-level diversity. In contrast, voluntary associations are driven by mission-oriented and communitarian logics that foreground shared goals and solidarities, enabling deeper forms of cross-ethnic engagement. This juxtaposition reveals a structural paradox: institutions most central to social mobility, such as schools and workplaces, also entrench ethnic boundaries, while those on the civic periphery are more conducive to bridging them. By theorising how different institutional logics condition the possibilities for inter-ethnic relations, this study offers a more nuanced understanding of the infrastructures of cohesion in plural societies.
Associate Professor,
Department of Sociology
and Anthropology, NUS
Vincent Chua is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology & Anthropology at the National University of Singapore. His research examines social inequalities, focusing on how social networks both reinforce and reduce disparities through mechanisms of social reproduction and social mixing. He has a PhD in sociology from the University of Toronto.
Skills Training: Prevalence and Effects
Skills training is a core component of Singapore’s approach to uplift wages and maintain employability in the labour market. Drawing data from three panel survey waves of young workers, this presentation addresses the following questions: 1) Who are more likely to complete training? 2) Who benefitted more from training in terms of wage growth? 3) What were the types of training completed? Our findings suggest that access to skills training—and the wage benefits it confers—are unequal. They depend on the support and recognition of employers, who play an integral role in promoting workers’ career progression.
Professor,
Department of Social Work, NUS
Research Associate,
Social Service Research Centre, NUS
Irene Y.H. Ng is a Professor of Social Work and Steering Committee Member of the Social Service Research Centre in the National University of Singapore. As a poverty scholar, she has researched on welfare recipients, in-work poverty, social safety nets and digital access.
Zhi Han is a Research Associate of the In-Work Poverty and the Challenges of Getting By research project at the Social Service Research Centre (SSR), National University of Singapore. He is also involved in SSR’s conferences and research capability development service. His research interests include occupational and educational inequalities, social mobility, and wage policies.
Moderator: Dr Mathew Mathews
Principal Research Fellow,
Institute of Policy Studies,
Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, NUS
Mathew Mathews has been involved in over 70 research projects examining social policy issues ranging from social cohesion to family. Current projects he is leading that examine low-income families include a three-year ethnographic study on work and savings behaviour, a longitudinal panel study examining the pathways and trajectories of households and the effectiveness of an intervention directed at developing the competencies of low income parents seeking to assist their young children's mathematical literacy. Mathew is active on various boards including the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Council and the MoneySense Council. He is President of a social service agency, Alive Community Network.
Closing
Professor,
Department of Social Work, NUS
Irene Y.H. Ng is a Professor of Social Work and Steering Committee Member of the Social Service Research Centre in the National University of Singapore. As a poverty scholar, she has researched on welfare recipients, in-work poverty, social safety nets and digital access.