CENTRAL PROVIDENT FUND SAVINGS (Release for unemployment relief)

Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon asked the Acting Minister for Labour whether the Central Provident Fund Board will consider allowing those CPF members who have been unemployed for a year or so to draw an allowance from their CPF savings to help meet their subsistence needs.

The Acting Minister for Labour (Mr Lee Yock Suan): Mr Speaker, Sir, for the vast majority of unemployed Singaporeans jobs are still available if they are prepared to make the necessary adjustments, painful as it may be. Most of them have retrenchment benefits, personal savings or family support and are apparently still able to meet their subsistence needs.

I have explained to Members last week how difficult it has been to persuade many Singaporean job seekers to accept available jobs other than those they want. In a market economy, it is speedy adjustment that can take us out of a recession and unemployment. The economic environment has changed and some jobs that were available in the past are no longer around. It is better for the unemployed to realize this early and make the necessary adjustments, instead of waiting for the jobs that they would like to come around.

Any form of unemployment benefits, whether as direct subsidies from the Government or withdrawals from CPF, will delay and impede this vital process of readjustment. The intention is good and we are all sympathetic towards those who have been thrown out of work by the recession. However, the end result would be worse for our society, weakening the work ethics of Singaporeans and their willingness to adjust to changing economic circumstances.

In Europe a new phenomenon called voluntary unemployment has become an unpleasant fact of life. We cannot afford such luxury. It is like giving opium to a person who is in pain, only to turn him into a drug addict. CPF funds will be released for unemployment relief only if there is a severe world depression in which there is widespread and prolonged unemployment, and it becomes impossible for the unemployed to find jobs.

Mr Chandra Das (Chong Boon): Mr Speaker, Sir, would the Minister consider allowing CPF members, particularly those who have failed in their businesses and who are currently unemployed, to at least draw their interest income from CPF in order to continue a simple living?

Mr Lee Yock Suan: Mr Speaker, Sir, as I have said in my reply, we are all sympathetic to the plight of these people, some of whom have gone into business and lost money. The problem is that it is difficult for us to make exceptions tothe rule. Once we start giving unemployment benefits or allowing people to withdraw CPF, whether it is the principal or the interest, the effect will be the same. If cases like this were to approach my Ministry, we will do our best to try and help them find jobs. For example, last Saturday's Straits Times, if Members were aware, in section 2, there were altogether eight pages of advertisements for managerial, supervisory and technical staff. So jobs are still available. Of course, for management positions companies will want to choose the best man for the job and not just any man. So some people may still have difficulties but they will have to make adjustments. As for those who may face unemployment for some time, the situation is also not static. It does not mean that those who are unemployed will stay unemployed. If they try harder and make adjustments, they will find jobs and in turn there will be other people who resign or retire or drop out of the labour market for some reason or other and become unemployed. So we are not really talking of a static situation but of a moving situation.