Seniors, jobless likely to get targeted financial help in Budget 2024
BESIDES short-term handouts, Budget 2024 may include longer-term financial support for specific groups, to tackle structural issues such as an ageing population and workforce transformation.
“We expect fiscal policy and Budget 2024 to balance between near and long-term priorities,” DBS economist Chua Han Teng wrote in a Jan 31 report.
He noted that, as previously announced, Budget 2024 will bring details of moves to boost retirement adequacy. These include enhancements to the Silver Support Scheme – which provides up to S$900 each quarter to eligible residents – and Matched Retirement Savings Scheme.
Details of the S$7 billion Majulah Package, announced at the National Day Rally 2023, will also be in Budget 2024. The package supports the retirement and healthcare adequacy of lower-income “young seniors” born before 1974.
Increased healthcare spending will be needed for managing chronic ailments and disabilities as well as preventive health programmes, said Paulin Tay Straughan, professor of sociology at the Singapore Management University.
Singapore must “take into consideration higher household expenditure” on these two aspects, she said, as well as eldercare costs and health insurance beyond MediShield – especially as older workers retire and are no longer covered by employee medical benefits.
Short-term targeted measures
Besides longer-term help, Budget 2024 may contain short-term targeted measures for retirees, said Chia Ngee Choon, associate professor of economics at the National University of Singapore.
“Bonus cash will help seniors to cope better as inflation impacts retiree households more,” said Prof Chia, who pointed to the Seniors’ Bonus in the Assurance Package as an example of targeted support for certain groups.
The previously announced Seniors’ Bonus grants eligible seniors between S$600 and S$900 from 2023 to 2025, on top of MediSave top-ups of S$450 for all Singaporean seniors.
Budget 2024 will also include details of long-discussed support for the involuntarily unemployed.
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong said last year that “appropriately sized” publicly funded benefits could be made available to retrenched workers. But such benefits for job seekers are likely to be tied to training and career counselling.
Layoffs rose to 14,320 in 2023, more than double the 6,440 seen in the year before, according to the most recent figures from the Ministry of Manpower.
Selena Ling, chief economist at OCBC, said that beyond questions of the support amounts and eligibility, the actual form of unemployment support remains to be seen. Besides cash grants, other options could include SkillsFuture or other credits, Central Provident Fund top-ups, or vouchers with restrictions on how they can be spent, she said.
