Finance Minister Thraman Shanmugaratnam announced a Silver Support Scheme designed to give permanent payouts to the poor elderly who do not have enough in CPF Savings to get by in old age.
Raising concerns about the scheme in the budget debate, PAP MP Chia Shi-Lu from Tanjong Pagar GRC asked if this was sustainable in the long-term.
While he supported the scheme, he said that Singapore has an ageing population and it also means that there will be an increasing burden for Singapore to continue funding the elderly as the working population shrinks in proportion.
Separately, Dr Chia also raised concerns about the Skills Future initiative asking whether there will be enough regulation of the awards and fellowships granted to those who wish to further their training and education.
“I am concerned that this could perhaps lead to the mushrooming of various fellowships or courses of widely differing and varying merit, and this may not necessarily translate into giving our workforce the right training for the right circumstances,” he said.
Indeed the investments announced in the budget to support workers improve their wages and skills were also questioned by others in parliament too with Nominated Member of Parliament Randolph Tan also asking whether the wage support scheme was good.
Mr Tan noted that the government announced various employment credit schemes where the government would temporarily subsidize the cost of increased wages for low and middle income workers.
He said that such schemes are actually a "serious concern" as they distort the labour market and delay the pushes for productivity. He also noted that the cost of the schemes, although it has benefited Singaporeans, has ballooned almost 5 fold since 2011 when the first of such credit schemes were introduced.
Mr Tan suggested that Singapore should continue to rely on the family support structures here families are reliant on themselves rather than the government. He said the government should focus on long-term goals rather than small indicators such as higher older worker labour force participation rates.