Poverty in Singapore
Monetary income or expenditure analysis is the most common measure of poverty (Donaldson et al., 2013). However, there is no official measure of poverty in Singapore. An indicative measurement level might be (1) household monthly income of $1500 to $1900 per month (an absolute poverty measurement with a dollar value cut-off), which is the criterion level for most financial assistance programmes, and (2) half of median income (a relative poverty measurement with a percentage cut-off) (Ng, 2013, p.35). These levels are adjusted according to household surveys on Singaporeans’ income conducted by the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) (2013). However, scholars like Donaldson et al. (2013) have raised the importance of using relative poverty measurement so as to include basic expenditures necessary for social mobility.
Problems faced
While many Singaporeans are stuck in the poverty cycle due to low wages as a result of income disparity between the highly and less skilled (Dhamani, 2008), some are unemployed because of medical reasons, changes in family dynamics such as divorce cases or having to provide caregiving needs for young dependents (The Straits Times, 2017).
A study by MSF in 2013 reported that the conditions for financial independence are employment, financial management, family support, good health and resourcefulness, but these are the very challenges faced by low-income Singaporeans, resulting in families with multiple social problems. Having to be prudent in their spending, these families often have to decide between spending on food or other daily necessities, resulting in food insecurity (Tan, Kaur-Gill, Dutta, & Venkataraman, 2016). Despite donors’ generosity to help the less fortunate, most food rations are in the form of processed food due to buffer time periods required to distribute the food (Kotwani, 2016). This is an ironic issue in the provision of food supplies at the expense of health conditions.
Some low-income Singaporeans are reluctant to receive help from strangers because they feel that “nobody comes and stay on” (Laiu, 2016). Snyder and Omoto (2008, p.2) reveals that interpersonal relationships that develop between volunteers and the beneficiaries facilitate volunteers’ active service. This requires commitment (Grant, 2007, p.401) and engagement to the beneficiaries for establishing such trust in the relationship (Shantz, Saksida, & Alfes, 2013, p.676). However, other priorities and time of the volunteers also form barriers towards the establishment of such relationships. MSF (2013) revealed that this group also preferred not to seek help because (1) they want to be self-reliant, (2) felt that others are more deserving of help, or (3) do not like borrowing money from others. Moreover, while some have benefited from the social assistance system, negative experiences faced by applicants contributed to the reasons that deterred these Singaporeans from seeking assistance (MSF, 2013). This is a result of complicated procedures required of applicants, especially the elderly who are unfamiliar with the policies and procedures and thus, would rather work than to continuously go through the rounds of applications (Cunico, Lim & Han, 2017).
Government Policies and Voluntary Welfare Organizations (VWOs) Efforts
Two main groups of low-income Singaporeans targeted for social assistance are elderly and young families. According to the ComCare Trends report, majority of the long-term assistance household applicants were aged 65 and above (MSF, 2016), and over 40% of aged 65 to 69 are still working (Foo, 2016). There is also an increasing number of young families seeking help at Family Service Centers and they are the largest group of short-to-medium term ComCare assistance households applicants (MSF, 2016).