Singapore has some 240,000 full-time workers who earn $1,000 or less per month.
Many of them are older and less educated. Their incomes have not risen as fast as that of other Singaporeans in the past five years.
The Government has thus formed this multi-ministry committee to help Low Wage Workers (LWWs).
It became obvious that LWW are not a homogenous group and different families may face dissimilar problems.
However it is useful to understand the challenges they face from the external environment and from those arising within their social circumstances.
First, external factors. The economic and employment landscape has changed dramatically in recent years. Simply put, hundreds of millions of lower-cost skilled workers from China, India, Eastern Europe and Latin America have entered into the global workforce.
Competition from these workers and economic restructuring are exerting downward pressure on the wages of less skilled workers in all countries including unskilled workers here in Singapore.
The main problem therefore for LWW is the skills mismatch which better paying jobs require. This is often repeated, but it is no less true.
Next, social problems they face. About 67,000 LWW live in households with a monthly household income of $1,500 or less. Some of these households face multiple problems arising from within their social circumstance beyond low incomes.
These range from marital conflict or divorce, having too large families, to poor parenting and juvenile delinquency.
The future of the next generation from these dysfunctional families is put at risk. This can perpetuate an underclass.
Hence i think that this is a pressing problem for the government. As cost of living in Singapore has risen considerably high, it is getting harder for LWW to make ends meet.
No doubt, the government has other problems like gambling. But helping the Low wages workers is the most important thing to do.
