"Ploughing on: The faces and insecurities of Singapore’s elderly working poor - CNA 07 May 2017
The poverty rate has been rising among the working elderly, one study shows. Why do seniors here feel the need to work for long hours and low pay, despite the help schemes available for the needy?
In recent years they have become more visible as food court cleaners, servers, security guards, tissue-sellers and scrap collectors. Given Singapore’s plethora of help schemes for the needy – such as the Pioneer Generation Package (PGP) and Silver Support Scheme for the old – why do the elderly poor feel the need to work for long hours and often low pay?
Do the jobs that the elderly poor do, as well as society’s safety nets, offer them adequate sense of security and quality of life in their old age?"
We hv an aging issue. Just like any other post-WWII countries all over the world n in particularly Asia. There r plenty if examples to learn from n anticipate what type of challenges we will face looking at Japan, South Korea n PRC...
In Sgp, the mantra is "work till u die if u hv little saving" n "your kids should take care of u regardless of their own situation" n "We will help only the truly truly poor!"
Nothing wrong with these from a theoretical n even moral high ground!
The realities r:
1. work till u die if u cannot afford retirement could mean: why bothered for the enlightened young people! What would become of Sgp if more think n behave like that?;
2. kids to look after their parents: is it sustainable if they could not even hv their own lives, n maybe started their own families?;
3. the truly truly poor will hv to include those where their kids cannot afford the maintenance of their parents going forward!!
How to fund these social safety n, may I say, dignity net?
a. lower the cost of living - esp when we cannot guarantee 1st world income for our citizens on a sustainable basis!;
c. changing or brainwashing the mind set if the NEW elderly to live healthily n fruitfully without need for much money while contributing to the productive workforce spreading the burden of the smaller n smaller younger workers will b the perfect solution must start n takes root soon.
With these imaginative approaches will Sgp find a way out.
May we be successful in this area as a united nation. Where the rich n the poor is not so widely divided.
The poverty rate has been rising among the working elderly, one study shows. Why do seniors here feel the need to work for long hours and low pay, despite the help schemes available for the needy?
In recent years they have become more visible as food court cleaners, servers, security guards, tissue-sellers and scrap collectors. Given Singapore’s plethora of help schemes for the needy – such as the Pioneer Generation Package (PGP) and Silver Support Scheme for the old – why do the elderly poor feel the need to work for long hours and often low pay?
Do the jobs that the elderly poor do, as well as society’s safety nets, offer them adequate sense of security and quality of life in their old age?"
We hv an aging issue. Just like any other post-WWII countries all over the world n in particularly Asia. There r plenty if examples to learn from n anticipate what type of challenges we will face looking at Japan, South Korea n PRC...
In Sgp, the mantra is "work till u die if u hv little saving" n "your kids should take care of u regardless of their own situation" n "We will help only the truly truly poor!"
Nothing wrong with these from a theoretical n even moral high ground!
The realities r:
1. work till u die if u cannot afford retirement could mean: why bothered for the enlightened young people! What would become of Sgp if more think n behave like that?;
2. kids to look after their parents: is it sustainable if they could not even hv their own lives, n maybe started their own families?;
3. the truly truly poor will hv to include those where their kids cannot afford the maintenance of their parents going forward!!
How to fund these social safety n, may I say, dignity net?
a. lower the cost of living - esp when we cannot guarantee 1st world income for our citizens on a sustainable basis!;
b. the objective in item a above will mean believing that through productivity improvement if less manpower n more automation/robotisation/digitization/etc. costs can cone down drastically if corporations r sensitive abt their profit objectives. This may trigger the realization that the top dogs need not hv biggest fixed pay to sustain a high quality of living as prices r low in general while quality is high!!
c. changing or brainwashing the mind set if the NEW elderly to live healthily n fruitfully without need for much money while contributing to the productive workforce spreading the burden of the smaller n smaller younger workers will b the perfect solution must start n takes root soon.
With these imaginative approaches will Sgp find a way out.
May we be successful in this area as a united nation. Where the rich n the poor is not so widely divided.
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