WORKFARE INCOME SUPPLEMENT

WORKFARE INCOME SUPPLEMENT

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(Update on beneficiaries): **

32.

Assoc. Prof. Paulin Tay Straughan asked the Minister for Manpower (a) how many Singaporeans have benefited from the Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) scheme in 2009; (b) what is the profile of the recipients of the WIS scheme, in terms of (i) the age distribution; (ii) the industries they come from; and (iii) the median salary; and (c) whether the Ministry has tracked their progress in terms of salary improvements and, if so, what are some facilitators that help low-wage workers achieve income adequacy.

Mr Gan Kim Yong: For work done in 2009, 314,000 Singaporeans received Workfare Income Supplements. Four-fifths were 45 years or older, while slightly more than one-quarter were aged 60 or older. More than half of the recipients worked in retail and wholesale trade, administrative and support services, hotels and restaurants, construction and personal services. The median gross income of recipients was $822. This was about 1.7% higher than the median gross income of $808 in 2008.

For low-wage workers to achieve income security, they must first work regularly. Therefore, the WIS scheme is designed to encourage regular work.

Second, once they are in regular work, we should help grow the incomes of low-wage workers by raising their productivity. To this end, we have just introduced the Workfare Training Support (WTS) scheme to help low-wage workers train and acquire new skills, including basic literacy skills, so that they can earn more. The national effort to raise productivity led by National Productivity and Continuing Education Council will also benefit low-wage workers, as with higher productivity, workers can command higher wages.

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Mr Omar bin Wahab, aged 66, is an example of someone who has benefited from training. Mr Omar joined the security sector after a career change in 2004. His readiness to pick up new skills enabled him to move into a new industry. He recently completed the Workforce Skills Qualification (WSQ) in Security and became a security guard supervisor at a condominium. His enthusiasm for upgrading has led to an improvement in his income, previously he earned $1,200 per month; he now earns about $1,400 per month.

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