SINGAPORE: As we inch closer and closer to GE2025, two sets of figures caught my attention. One says we have been doing well; the other says a large number of Singaporeans disagree – and the anxiety of this group needs to be seriously addressed.
According to the Singapore Department of Statistics, the latest available data indicates that Singapore’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita at current market prices was S$113,779 in 2023.
It may be a simplistic way of putting things. Just because we have “achieved” such a humongous per capita income, does it follow that every one of us here is living in paradise? We would like to think so. But we are not.
Maybe for most of the people residing in “Districts 9, 10 and 11”. Or those for whom a car Cat B COE of $111,104 is chicken feed. And let’s leave the GCB type aside.
But for those other Singaporeans who live more down-to-earth, ordinary lives, even surviving is becoming a problem these days. The second set of figures seems to say so.
The Straits Times:
“A 2025 survey on economic sentiment by The National Trades Union Congress found out that 34 per cent of respondents expressed concern about losing their jobs in the next three months. The figure was almost 40 per cent in 2024 and 34 per cent in 2023, the annual survey of 2,000 respondents showed.”
And these respondents would likely have a vast component of Singaporeans with responsibilities. These would include house instalments to pay, children to feed and bring up and perhaps parents to take care of and all the nitty gritty living expenses in what is becoming one of the most expensive places to live in Asia, if not the world.9o
Be clear about the problem here.
We are not talking about finding a job – which is also getting more tough in itself, in an environment probably not quite envisaged in S Rajaratnam’s “globapolis” vision.
We are talking about people who are descendants of at least two pioneer generations. These earlier Singaporeans have sacrificed and built the country into what it is now. And their descendants are now being stuck in a situation where, despite the country being touted as wealthy and First World they have to worry about job security.
What happened to all the talk and programmes way back to the late 1980s/1990s about preparing our youths for the future, to make them relevant for life? Are the good jobs now being taken up by foreigners or PRs?
Tan Bah Bah is a former senior leader writer with The Straits Times. He was also managing editor of a magazine publishing company