SINGAPORE: In response to the series of announcements made by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong during the National Day Rally speech, The Workers’ Party (WP) welcomed the policy shifts but also called for deeper reforms.
Notably, in a statement released on Monday (19 August), WP highlighted several similarities between the policies announced by PM Wong and WP’s proposals, particularly those outlined in the party’s 2020 General Election Manifesto.
WP expressed encouragement at the policy changes, including the announcement of the new SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support Scheme.
This scheme will provide up to S$6,000 in temporary financial support over a maximum of six months to lower- and middle-income workers who have lost their jobs, subject to training and other conditions.
WP agreed with PM Wong’s assertion that losing a job can seriously destabilize workers and their families.
WP also pointed out its 2016 policy paper, in which the party called for the implementation of a Redundancy Insurance scheme, and reiterated this call in its 2020 General Election Manifesto and during the Budget 2023 debate in Parliament.
In its 2020 Manifesto, WP proposed that retrenched workers receive a payout equivalent to 40% of their last drawn salary for up to six months.
The payout would be capped at S$1,200 per month, with a minimum payout of S$500 per month to benefit low-wage workers. Subsequent payouts would be conditional on the worker actively seeking a new job or undergoing re-training.
WP reiterated in its statement that its redundancy insurance scheme was designed to be funded primarily by premiums paid by workers while they are employed, rather than by taxpayers.
WP’s more extensive parental leave policy in 2020 Manifesto
Another similarity between PM Wong’s announcement and WP’s proposals is the shared parental leave scheme.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced a new 10-week Shared Parental Leave scheme, with government payments of up to S$2,500 per week, effective from 1 April 2026.
While WP believes that all parents-to-be will welcome the new scheme, the party noted that its 2020 Manifesto already proposed a more extensive parental leave policy.
WP suggested 24 weeks of government-paid leave, to be shared between mothers and fathers as they choose, with a minimum of 12 weeks allocated to the mother and four weeks to the father.
Sengkang GRC MPs Louis Chua and Associate Professor Jamus Lim reiterated this proposal in April 2022 during the parliamentary debate on the White Paper on Singapore Women’s Development.
As Sengkang GRC MP He Ting Ru pointed out in her speech in October 2020, the current government policy, which allows fathers to share only up to four weeks of the mother’s leave, reinforces the outdated notion that childcare is primarily the mother’s responsibility, rather than promoting equal parenting roles.
In his speech, PM Wong also announced that starting in mid-2025, singles will be eligible for priority in Build-to-Order (BTO) flat applications if they wish to live with or near their families.
Currently, singles aged 35 and older can purchase new flats from the Housing and Development Board (HDB), but this option is limited to two-room Flexi flats.
PM Wong acknowledged that implementing major near-term changes would be challenging as the government works to increase the supply of new flats to meet demand.
However, he mentioned that one immediate step could be extending priority access to singles who wish to live near their parents.
Sengkang MP Louis Chua previously advocated lowering BTO eligibility age for singles to 28
In response, WP reiterated their call, first made in the 2020 Manifesto, to lower the eligibility age for singles to apply for a BTO flat from 35 to 28 years.
“We urge the government to make this deeper policy reform sooner, to more comprehensively allay concerns among singles regarding housing access.”
During his adjournment motion in September 2022, WP MP Louis Chua highlighted that singles under 35 who desire homeownership face the challenge of either purchasing costly private properties or renting in the competitive open market, where they might be priced out.
He proposed the provision of Central Provident Fund housing grants to singles on a tiered scale if the eligibility age is lowered to 28, with grants starting at a reduced amount and progressively increasing up to 35.