There is no escaping the GST hike starting next year. Here’s how you can cope with rising costs.
Goods & Services Tax (GST) will proceed to increase from the current 7% to the proposed 8% from 1 Jan 2023 and subsequently to 9% from 1 Jan 2024. With the rise in GST, the cost of living goes up and workers bear the brunt, especially those from the lower to the middle-income group. Thankfully, […]
PME Taskforce call for stronger support for PMEs who become involuntarily unemployed
It’s been a full year since nine recommendations were made by the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC)-Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) PME Taskforce (PME TF) to strengthen PMEs’ employment and employability and enable them to compete fairly and more effectively in the labour market. Since the release of the recommendations, NTUC-SNEF has been working closely with the Ministry […]
Low wage workers not in Progressive Wage Model sectors to earn at least $1400 a month
Come 1 September 2022, a total of 221,000 full-time lower-wage workers will benefit from Progressive Wage moves. Adjustment to Local Qualifying Salary (LQS) 159,000 full-time lower-wage workers who are not in the PWM (Progressive Wage Model) sectors will benefit from an adjustment to the Local Qualifying Salary. The LQS is the salary an employer needs […]
A response to ‘who is destroying the affordability of our basic cost of living’
The Independent Singapore (TISG) published an open letter from a netizen that it said was circulating on WhatSapp. This being the weekend and it’s raining as well….. In the open letter, the netizen asked: “Who is destroying the affordability of our basic cost of living?” 1. the hardships faced by the average Singaporeans when everything […]
Demystifying Help Schemes for Lower-wage Workers
Every year, large sums from the Singapore annual Budget are set aside to support social spending in order to increase social mobility and help uplift those from low-income households. Lower wage workers have always been a vulnerable group that the Government has paid attention to. In case you missed this year’s National Day Rally speech, […]
This year’s National Day Rally speech paid special attention to workers. It’s important to understand why.
The National Day Rally is typically seen as the most important political speech of the year – with the Prime Minister charting Singapore’s future direction and announcing policy changes. This year’s speech opened with COVID-19 as the backdrop that has changed the world as we once knew it. While PM Lee spoke about preserving our […]
Netizens are confused and think that LQS is minimum wage
During the recent National Day Rally (NDR) announcement, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced that companies MUST pay a Local Qualifying Salary (LQS) of $1400 to ALL its local employees if they wish to hire foreign employees. Many Singaporeans are confused by this announcement and what the LQS is, mistakenly thinking that PAP has finally […]
What is the key difference between WP’s formula and the White Paper’s proposal?
Our ministers’ million-dollar-salary is the broad and blunt tool of many an opposition supporter who draws it out of their toolkit as a final resort to hammer and smash everything in the way when left with no other alternative response. But hey! Hold your fire (or hammering) as the WP had also proposed million-dollar salary […]