Chitchat Married Sinkies With 2 Kids Need $3k A Month To Live Reasonably!

[JohnTan]

SINGAPORE: The “reasonable starting point” for a living wage in Singapore is S$2,906 a month, according to a study by the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.

This figure is based on the average budget for a couple with two children, assuming both parents are employed full-time. The figure is also adjusted for taxes and all universal and major means-tested benefits.

“The median work income among all workers in 2020 exceeded this amount by 50 per cent, but the current PWM (Progressive Wage Model) wages fall significantly below,” said the school in a media release on Friday (Oct 8).

The Progressive Wage Model aims to lift the salaries of workers by various sectors through upgrading their skills and improving productivity.

The study found that the costs of education and care “dominated” the budgets for children’s needs.

“While some costs associated with children decline with age, others increase sharply. As current measures supporting education and care taper off for older children, parents are likely to face greater financial strain as their children grow up.”

Researchers also found that current public housing policies "effectively double” housing costs for single parents who have never married, compared to partnered, widowed or divorced parents.

The research team includes: The head of the Social Inclusion Project at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy Dr Ng Kok Hoe, and Nanyang Technological University Assoc Prof Teo You Yenn, author of This Is What Inequality Looks Like.

DETERMINING BUDGETS
The team built on a general definition of basic needs determined in their 2019 study, which investigated budgets necessary for older people living alone or with a partner.

Focus group participants then generated lists of items and services related to several fields, including housing and utilities, food, transport and social participation. They considered the needs of children according to gender and age group.

Researchers only included items and services if participants agreed that it was a basic need and could explain why. Participants also agreed on when and how family members could share items.

The team found that in 2021, a single parent with one child aged between two and six needed S$3,218 per month to meet their basic needs.

Meanwhile, partnered parents with two children, one aged between seven and 12 and the other aged between 13 and 18, needed S$6,426 a month.

A single elderly person needed S$1,421 a month.

According to the report, the budgets for the two working-age households work out to about S$1,600 per household member.

“As the average work income per household member for the third decile group of employed households in Singapore in 2020 is S$1,609, this indicates that 30 per cent of working households earn less than required for these two types of households to meet their basic needs.”

“These two waves of research give us a comprehensive view of basic needs across the life course,” said Dr Ng.

“They provide a concrete benchmark and starting point for discussing how people may achieve the incomes they need, including allowing us to calculate a possible living wage.”

“MAY NOT BE AN ACCURATE REFLECTION OF BASIC NEEDS”
In a statement issued on Friday, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said: “Anyone reading the LKYSPP report should bear in mind the limitations of the approach used. The conclusions may not be an accurate reflection of basic needs largely due to assumptions used.”

The ministry noted that the methodology used is “highly dependent” on group dynamics and profile of the participants.

“With most participants having post-secondary education and 15 per cent living in private properties, the findings expressed may not be reflective of the circumstances of the lower-income families,” it said.

For instance, estimates included discretionary expenditure items such as private enrichment classes, jewellery, perfumes and overseas holidays, said MOF.

“The study also did not take into account alternatives, such as MOE (Ministry of Education) student care centres and the various self-help groups, which provide enrichment classes for those who need them at low cost.”

The ministry added that researchers considered mortgage payments for flats as expenditure items, but “downplayed” the fact that non-interest components of such payments are “more akin to savings that help households build up valuable housing equity”.

Highlighting the finding that each household member in working-age households should have about S$1,600 per month, MOF said that the number is “in fact closer to what an average household spends”. This is based on the Household Expenditure Survey 2017/2018, it said.

“This means that it is in excess of basic needs for an average household.”

MOF also said that the report understated the amount of Government subsidies and financial support received by low-income families.

“The amounts reflected in the report are what median earner receives, not low-income families,” said the ministry.

It added that the report offers additional data points on the expectations and aspirations of Singaporeans, “which will continue to evolve over time”.

“The Government is sensitive to these shifts and regularly reviews our scope and coverage of assistance to ensure it is relevant and adequate,” said MOF.

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/sin...nt-living-wage-singapore-lkyspp-study-2230071

 

[Scrooball (clone)]

We should survey the minorities on how they survive with one breadwinner on a Grabfood or courier delivery job.

 

[JohnTan]

We should survey the minorities on how they survive with one breadwinner on a Grabfood or courier delivery job.

Maybe they are cheating on their income tax declarations. Or they've been stealing food from our delivery orders.

 

[bushtucker]

That's a sad way of living. You can't even afford a hobby or simple luxuries to pamper yourself. All your earnings go to the kids and the bills.

 

[syed putra]

We should survey the minorities on how they survive with one breadwinner on a Grabfood or courier delivery job.

Thanks to grab they got a job they dream of. Ride motorbikes all day.

 

[syed putra]

Maybe they are cheating on their income tax declarations. Or they've been stealing food from our delivery orders.

Most food are non halal. And this is A occupation gomen.

 

[LordElrond]

Thanks to grab they got a job they dream of. Ride motorbikes all day.

I also say…

 

[laksaboy]

That's a sad way of living. You can't even afford a hobby or simple luxuries to pamper yourself. All your earnings go to the kids and the bills.

When you need to just survive, hobbies and pampering yourself are irrelevant.

Maslow's hierarchy of needs etc.

 

[JohnTan]

Most food are non halal. And this is A occupation gomen.

Which means the food is tastier and healthier. moslems have a much higher obesity and diabetes rate compared to non-moslems.

 

[ilovechinesegal]

That's a sad way of living. You can't even afford a hobby or simple luxuries to pamper yourself. All your earnings go to the kids and the bills.

That is true sia. Sinkie here husband side must have a rich dad or ah gong or both.

 

[JohnTan]

That's a sad way of living. You can't even afford a hobby or simple luxuries to pamper yourself. All your earnings go to the kids and the bills.

That's not true. Most sinkies rich or poor, can afford to eat good cheap steaks as Astons or drink bubble tea.

 

[searcher1]

Someone shared the story, the whole family do Food-Delivery
Father Mother Son & Daughter, each bring home $3k & total household income $12k

 

[Scrooball (clone)]

Someone shared the story, the whole family do Food-Delivery
Father Mother Son & Daughter, each bring home $3k & total household income $12k

Oh ok… so one day if Grab goes bust, the whole family can die together ?

 

[LITTLEREDDOT]

Family of four needs $6,426 a month for basic standard of living in S'pore, says study​

The average wage per working parent needed to meet the basic standards of living is $2,906 per month.PHOTO: ST FILE

Tham Yuen-C
Senior Political Correspondent

Oct 9, 2021

SINGAPORE - A family of four, with parents, a pre-teen and a teenager, needs at least $6,426 a month to afford a basic standard of living, a study on household budgets has found.
A family of two, with a single parent and a toddler or pre-schooler, meanwhile, needs $3,218 a month.
But a substantial and concerning proportion of working households in Singapore - about 30 per cent - do not earn enough to meet these needs.
The study was done by National University of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP) and Nanyang Technological University (NTU).
Its findings were released in the report Minimum Income Standards For Households In Singapore (2021), and were disputed by the Ministry of Finance (MOF) in a statement on Friday (Oct 8).
LKYSPP senior research fellow Ng Kok Hoe and NTU head of sociology Teo You Yenn, two of the study's six authors, said that the study on how much people need to achieve a basic standard of living in Singapore has exposed some gaps in society.

Using the figures as a benchmark and comparing them against existing income data as well as public schemes show that some segments of the population are not able to meet their basic needs, added Dr Ng at an event presenting the study's findings held over videoconferencing platform Zoom.
But the MOF said "the conclusions may not be an accurate reflection of basic needs largely due to assumptions used", pointing to the limitations of the Minimum Income Standards (MIS) approach used.
The study defined standard of living as one in which Singaporeans can afford housing, food and clothing, and also have opportunities for education, employment and work-life balance, as well as access to healthcare.
It should also enable a sense of belonging, respect, security and independence and afford the choice to participate in social activities and cultural and religious practices.

Based on this definition that emerged from focus group discussions, researchers then convened more focus groups for people to come up with lists of items people from different stages of life will need.
The researchers went to shops or websites mentioned by the participants to find out the real price of each item. These lists were then combined to form the budget of various configurations of households.
Dr Ng said a critical pillar of the MIS approach is to ensure that each focus group is economically diverse, so the budgets resulting from the discussions are not just for particular segments, say the rich or poor. Instead, these budgets apply universally for all Singaporeans, he added.
A total of 196 participants of different genders, ethnicity and socio-economic backgrounds took part in 24 focus group discussions.
This method differs from other methods of assessing needs, which typically depend on experts and household expenditure.
The MOF said the budgets arising from the study were in excess of the basic needs for an average household.

The LKYSPP-NTU team had done a previous study in 2019, focusing on elderly households.
This time, it covered younger households, including those with a single parent with one child aged two to six, and those with parents with two children, one aged seven to 12 and the other aged 13 to 18.
It also updated its findings on households with a single elderly person, by accounting for inflation, among other things.
Adopting the household budgets as benchmarks and comparing them with data on actual income from work, the study found that after taking major taxes and benefits into account, workers earning the equivalent of the median wage in 2020, which stood at $4,534, will make more than enough to cover the needs of the single-parent and two-parent households.
Based on the study, the average wage per working parent needed to meet the basic standards of living is $2,906 per month.
The study's authors suggested that this can be a starting point for a socially acceptable living wage for Singapore, which will allow people to meet their basic needs.
However, the study found that some groups were at risk of falling below this minimum. The youngest workers, as well as those without tertiary education and those in certain low-wage sectors, would fall short if they belonged to these single-parent and two-parent households.
For example, cleaners and labourers take home a median monthly income of only $1,535, while salespeople make $2,345.

For elderly households with one person, basic needs will cost $1,421 a month. PHOTO: ST FILE

The Progressive Wage Model (PWM) and Workfare Income Supplement were also inadequate in helping to make up the difference, with wage levels under these schemes coming up to about 60 per cent of what the single-parent and two-parent households need.
"Clearly, interventions currently available are not enough for working households with children," said Dr Ng.
He added that if such households depend on employment in PWM sectors such as cleaning as their only source of income, they are likely to experience significant financial strain, calling for wage intervention to go further than the PWM currently does.
For elderly households with one person, basic needs will cost $1,421 a month.
Income data suggests that older workers would have just enough to cover this. Workers who are 60 years old and above make a median monthly wage of $2,330.
But elderly people depending on Central Provident Fund payouts may find themselves short, while those needing public assistance would be a long way from achieving a basic standard of living, the study found.
The CPF Basic Retirement Sum, which pays out $800 a month, covers only 56 per cent of what a single elderly person needs. The Silver Support Scheme covers only 11 per cent to 21 per cent, the study found.

While the study offers a scientific benchmark for policymakers to refer to, it does not prescribe a way to help close the gap, said Dr Ng.
He suggested that there were two options, either rebalance the private and public provision of public services such as education and healthcare, or improve wage interventions such as PWM.
The study found that housing, healthcare, education and childcare accounted for a significant proportion of spending for all household types - 28 per cent of the budget for two-parent households, and 39 per cent for single-parent households.
More state funding for such public services, through universal subsidies or direct provision, would help lighten the financial burden on households, he noted.
"What we mustn't do is say we can't move on any of these fronts. If you don't move on any front then people will not have enough," he added.
The study's authors also said the MIS method of constructing household budgets, adopted by countries such as Britain, France, South Africa and Thailand, reflects the lived realities and ordinary habits of people and captures the values and principles that ordinary Singaporeans identify with.
For instance, participants agreed that money should be allocated for contributions at funeral wakes, or birthday presents, but rejected air-conditioners as a necessity.
They also agreed that land lines were not needed, since most people use their mobile phones nowadays, and that taxi rides are a necessity a few times a week, though cars are not.

Participants had agreed that landlines were not needed, since most people use their mobile phones nowadays. PHOTO: ST FILE

Associate Professor Teo said: "The spirit of this project is really about trying to capture how ordinary people think about the basic standard of living in a particular time and... many participants were very articulate in saying that it shouldn't just be about breathing and being alive.
"It's also about thriving, having respect and security and belonging."
The importance of this sense of belonging had come through especially strongly this time around, compared with the first study in 2019, as parents spoke about how children need to be able to do things other children do, so they feel they belong.
That is why the household budgets also included money for them to join their friends at outings outside of school, she added.
Dr Ng said: "It was very meaningful... that people can agree what basic needs in society mean, that people from very different backgrounds agree that there is such a thing called basic needs, agree what it means and looks like...
'This should urge all of us to think about how in policymaking and public deliberation and thinking, we should bring people into it and not think that answers are best produced by narrow groups of elites."

 

[JohnTan]

That research seems flawed. I've known many families who survived on a monthly total household income of about $2k.

 

[LITTLEREDDOT]

The PAP govt thinks Sinkies should live only at the most basic level. Not at the level that Sinkies aspire for.

Report on minimum income standards not an accurate reflection of basic needs: Finance Ministry​

The amount of government subsidies and financial support reflected in the report are what the median earner - not low-income families - receives.PHOTO: ST FILE

Ng Wei Kai

Oct 8, 2021

SINGAPORE - The Ministry of Finance (MOF) has flagged issues with a report by several academics on minimum income standards for households, saying those reading it should bear in mind the limitations of the approach researchers used.
"The conclusions may not be an accurate reflection of basic needs largely due to assumptions used," the ministry said in a statement on Friday (Oct 8).
It pointed out that the methodology used to arrive at the Minimum Income Standard (MIS) is highly dependent on group dynamics and the profile of the participants.
"With most participants having post-secondary education and 15 per cent living in private properties, the findings expressed may not be reflective of the circumstances of the lower-income families," MOF added.
The study on household budgets, by a group of researchers from the National University of Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP) and Nanyang Technological University (NTU), found that a family of four, with parents, a pre-teen and a teenager, needs at least $6,426 a month to afford a basic standard of living.
But a substantial and concerning proportion of working households in Singapore - about 30 per cent - do not earn enough to meet these needs, it noted.

These findings were released in the report Minimum Income Standards for Households in Singapore (2021), which was also extended to the Government.
In its statement, the ministry made three observations on how this might have affected the study's findings.
First, it said researchers included discretionary expenditure items such as private enrichment classes, jewellery, perfumes, and overseas holidays in the estimates.
It said the study did not take into account alternatives to these items, such as government-run student care centres and the various self-help groups, which provide enrichment classes at low cost.

Second, researchers considered mortgage payments for flats an expenditure item.
However, they downplayed the point that the non-interest parts of mortgage payments can be seen as savings that help households build housing equity, MOF said.
The third point MOF raised was that while the report concluded that the MIS budget required is around $1,600 per month per person for both single and two-parent households, the $1,600 figure is closer to what an average household spends, based on the Household Expenditure Survey 2017/18.
"This means that it is in excess of basic needs for an average household," said MOF.

The ministry also said that there are errors in certain assumptions made in the report, which under-state the amount of government subsidies and financial support received by low-income families.
The amounts reflected in the report are what the median earner - not low-income families - receives, MOF added.
The ministry cited, as an example, how a low-income household can receive up to $80,000 under the Enhanced Housing Grant for a new flat, more than the $15,000 received by a household with two median-income earners.
At the same time, MOF acknowledged that the report offers an additional data point on the expectations and aspirations of Singaporeans, which will continue to evolve over time.
"The Government is sensitive to these shifts and regularly reviews our scope and coverage of assistance to ensure it is relevant and adequate," it added.
It went on to detail some of the policies it has put in place to beef up spending on social programmes, adding that over the last 10 years it has doubled social spending from $17 billion in the 2010 financial year to $31 billion in the 2019 financial year.
MOF added that the Government recently announced moves to uplift low-wage workers at this year's National Day Rally.

It also said that over the last few years the Government has improved pre-school subsidies, Ministry of Education financial assistance schemes for school children and bursaries for students at institutes of higher education.
It added that the government has also enhanced healthcare subsidies such as Community Health Assist Scheme coverage for citizens with chronic conditions, rolled out special healthcare subsidies for Pioneer Generation and Merdeka Generation seniors, and introduced schemes such as MediShield Life and CareShield Life.
"The Government will continue supporting those in need through a combination of building their capacity for self-resilience, strengthening their family support, and partnering with the community for further support," said the ministry.

 

[nayr69sg]

I did an informal "study".

https://www.sammyboy.com/threads/is-life-in-singapore-good-for-most-singaporeans.308974/

Life seems to be still good for most in Singapore.

So either that study is wrong or most households earn enough income.

 

[LITTLEREDDOT]

Goh Chok Tong promised Swiss standard of living.
Sinkies getting Shit standard of living

 

[JohnTan]

The PAP govt thinks Sinkies should live only at the most basic level. Not at the level that Sinkies aspire for.

Sinkies can live very well on 3 meals at a coffeeshop, and drinking leisure coffee there too for $1 a cup. What do you expect? 3 meals in a restaurant and starbucks coffee?

 

[JohnTan]

Goh Chok Tong promised Swiss standard of living.
Sinkies getting Shit standard of living

View attachment 124607

That promise has been kept. In the past 10 years, there has been numerous condos and ECs sprouting up all over Singapore. For most of the condos, at least 80% of the buyers are Singaporeans. Sinkies move from HDB to condos, complete with swimming pools, gyms and lovely gardens. I doubt the actual Swiss people get to enjoy such a lifestyle.