Revising Quantum Amounts for Government Assistance Schemes to Better Help Low- and Medium-income Workers
Ministry of FinanceSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns Mr Gan Thiam Poh's inquiry on whether Government assistance scheme quanta can be revised to help low- and middle-income workers manage the increased cost of living. Minister for Transport and Second Minister for Finance Chee Hong Tat responded that schemes are regularly reviewed, highlighting 2025 enhancements to the Workfare Income Supplement and the expanded $10 billion Assurance Package. Specific measures include Budget 2024 Cost-of-Living Special Payments, CDC vouchers, and increased rebates for utilities and service and conservancy charges to support families with greater needs. The Minister emphasized that long-term support focuses on real wage growth through economic expansion and skills upgrading, noting real income for lower-wage workers grew 1.2% annually from 2019 to 2024. The Government remains committed to monitoring the situation closely and will make further moves to strengthen worker support if required by economic conditions.
Transcript
91 Mr Gan Thiam Poh asked the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance whether the current support quanta across all Government assistance schemes for low and medium-income workers can be further revised to enable them to stay above the increased cost of living resulting from cyclical and non-cyclical inflation.
Mr Chee Hong Tat: The Government regularly reviews the scope, coverage and payout quanta of our social support schemes. These reviews take into account macroeconomic trends, including inflation and wage growth, to ensure that our support is sized appropriately and targeted at those with greater needs.
Over the past year, we have enhanced social support schemes that benefit lower- and middle-income workers. For example, we enhanced the Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) scheme from 1 January 2025, with the qualifying monthly income cap raised from $2,500 to $3,000 and the maximum WIS payments per year increased from $4,200 to $4,900. These enhancements ensure that WIS continues to support lower-income workers amidst the rising cost of living.
The Government has also rolled out measures to support all Singaporeans with their cost of living, with more help given to lower- and middle-income families. In particular, we have enhanced the Assurance Package to more than $10 billion. The enhancements include measures, such as the Budget 2024 Cost-of-Living Special Payment that was disbursed in September 2024, Community Development Council (CDC) vouchers and additional utilities save (U-Save) and service and conservancy charges (S&CC) rebates.
While social support measures play an important role, the most effective way to help lower- and middle-income workers cope with the rising cost of living is to enable them to increase their real wages over time. This is why one of our priorities is to continue growing the economy to create more good jobs and support Singaporeans to take on these jobs through skills upgrading and lifelong learning.
Our efforts have helped our workers increase their real income over time. This is the increase in their income, which is above the rate of inflation. Based on the Ministry of Manpower's Labour Force in Singapore Advance Release 2024, real median income grew at 0.7% per annum from 2019 to 2024. Real income for lower-wage workers grew at a higher rate of 1.2% per annum.
The Government will continue to monitor the situation closely and, where required, we will make further moves to strengthen the support for our workers.