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Singapore's new Prime Minister Lawrence Wong delivers a speech after being sworn in at the Presidential Palace in Singapore on May 15, 2024.
Edgar So | AFP | Getty Images
SINGAPORE – The Lion City is set to launch an unemployment support scheme for workers who have been laid off or involuntarily unemployed.
The country's Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced this. During his speech at the National Day rallyHe spoke about the economy, education and housing policies in Singapore.
The programme, titled SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support Programme, aims to help low- and middle-income workers and will provide involuntarily unemployed workers with up to S$6,000 (US$4,561) for six months, subject to conditions.
A qualified worker should receive career training and mentoring, as well as job matching services during that time, Wong said, saying: “These are essential investments you need to make in yourself to find better jobs.”
The move represents a marked shift in policy for the city-state, which has long resisted calls for unemployment insurance out of fear that such schemes would encourage citizens to choose welfare over work.
Singapore currently does not provide any unemployment benefits to these workers. Wong said the country's Ministry of Manpower would announce when the new system would come into effect “in due course.”
Since its separation from Malaysia in 1965 to become an independent sovereign state, Singapore under founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew has rejected the idea of a welfare state. In 2005, Lee declared that Singapore would not be a welfare state. He said“I moved away from social welfare because it undermined people's self-reliance and desire to excel and succeed.”
Lee's successors, Goh Chok Tong and Lee Hsien Loong, did not introduce any policies to support unemployment.
In his speech, Wong said that Singaporean officials were looking at unemployment policies in other countries to study the practice of financial support for people who are involuntarily unemployed.
Unconditional unemployment insurance in foreign countries has not yielded positive results, Wong said: “Because after receiving a generous benefit, a person may find it more attractive to remain unemployed than to return to work. That is why the government has always been cautious about such schemes.”
“That’s why we looked for an alternative. Just as we created a work-for-welfare program instead of welfare, what could be better than unemployment insurance? How can we help in a way that reduces the negative outcomes we’ve seen elsewhere?”
The term “welfare and work” refers to a system implemented in 2005 by the Singapore government to support low-income workers by increasing their income and superannuation fund payments, provided they maintain a job.
Similarly, Wong said the SkillsFuture job seeker support programme would support involuntarily unemployed workers, but workers must also do their part. “We will support you, we will stand by you; but you must also take responsibility for your actions, and make the effort to lift yourself up.”
Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that the Skillsfuture Jobseeker Support Scheme will provide up to S$6,000 (US$4,561) for six months to involuntarily unemployed workers.
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