1 in 5 SG residents report worsening household finances over the past month—YouGov

SINGAPORE: While three out of five (60 per cent) Singapore residents report no change in household finances compared to the previous month, more than one in five (21 per cent) say that their household finances have worsened in this period.

Moreover, only one in eight (13 per cent) report that their financial situation has improved over the past month according to recent data from YouGov Profiles, from February 2023. The data from these profiles show cumulative responses over the past 52 weeks.

As to whether they believe that their household finances will change over the next 12 months, about one in five (19 per cent) said they expect their household finances to worsen, but more (28 per cent) said they expect them to improve.

Thirty-eight per cent of the respondents say they expect their financial situation to stay the same way.

The younger respondents seemed more optimistic and were more likely to say their financial situation will improve

“Just under two in five Gen Z (37 per cent) and Millennials (38 per cent) expecting their situation to get better, compared to about a quarter of Gen X (26 per cent) and a seventh of Baby Boomers (14 per cent).

Additionally, almost a quarter of Gen X (23 per cent) and Baby Boomers (24 per cent) expect their household finances to worsen over the coming year, compared to just 16 per cent of Millennials and 9 per cent of Gen Z,” YouGov said in a Mar 7 (Tuesday) press release.

Moreover, Singapore residents from the following fields expressed the most optimism concerning their household finances in the next 12 months, with over a third expecting them to get better: Media, Marketing, Advertising, PR and Sales, Retail and Construction.

Conversely, the respondents from the following industries — Legal, Manufacturing, Education, Financial Services and Transport and Distribution—showed the most pessimism. More than one fifth of the respondents from these fields say they expect their household finances to worsen over the next 12 months.

“Respondents from the Real Estate sector were most divided: the proportion who expect their financial situation to improve (38 per cent) and worsen (23 per cent) over the next 12 months were both among the highest across industries,” noted YouGov.

/TISG

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