Workforce measures a good move, but some workers may need more help: MPs

Senior and lower-wage workers emerge as key groups of concern

- Tay Hong Yi

Budget 2025 tackles challenges facing workers and businesses when it comes to training and hiring, members from both sides of the House said, as they brought up examples of pockets of workers who may still need more help.

During the first two days of the Budget debate, MPs raised ideas on how to improve workers' welfare and cushion the impact of labour market risks such as workers being laid off and jobs leaving Singapore.

Labour MP Mohd Fahmi Aliman (Marine Parade GRC) on Feb 27 called for the Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) minimum payout and age thresholds to be relooked, even as he acknowledged that the Budget broadly prioritises lower-wage workers.

The WIS is a salary top-up for lower-income workers to help them save for retirement. The top tier of payment is currently for those aged 60 and above.

"WIS payments increase with age, but currently max out at 60 years old, even though many workers continue working well beyond that," Mr Fahmi said.

Additional age tiers past 60 with progressively higher payments, in line with increases to the retirement age, could be introduced, he suggested.

The minimum payout in both cash and Central Provident Fund contribution, currently at $10 each, should also be raised given rising living costs, he added.

Similar suggestions were made by Mr Gan Thiam Poh (Ang Mo Kio GRC) on the first day of the debate on Feb 26, highlighting the struggles of low-income elderly workers who continue working to make ends meet.

In his speech, Mr Fahmi also asked building developers and employers to provide more rest areas for lower-wage workers, and proposed exemptions to gross floor area calculations for these areas to sweeten the deal for developers.