‘These youths are definitely not ‘not hungry”: Young Singaporeans making ends meet by taking second jobs as ‘safety net’ amid rising cost of living

SINGAPORE: Gone are the days when one pay cheque was enough to feel financially secure in Singapore. Now, young Singaporeans are taking on second jobs as a “safety net” amid the rising cost of living and fears that they could be affected by the next round of job cuts.

Bloomberg reported that 32-year-old Singaporean Adele Lee had to juggle her role as a personal assistant to a senior director at a financial advisory firm with selling second-hand clothes through TikTok livestreams, earning an additional S$500 a month on top of her nearly S$4,000 salary.

This, she said, helps pay for her insurance premiums and her dog’s expenses. She noted that the side hustle acts as a “safety net” as living costs continue to rise in the city-state.

Twenty-four-year-old Celest Chew, who works full-time in marketing, shared similar concerns about job security amid layoffs and the growing adoption of artificial intelligence (AI).

According to her, she started a home cafe believing it’s something “AI can’t take over.” Selling beverages and tarts on weekends earns her about S$500 a month on top of her salary of just under S$4,000.

Even 27-year-old Sherman Sam, who works full-time in private equity, spends part of his evenings listing Pokémon cards on marketplaces like eBay to earn a bit more and hopefully afford a home.

Following gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 5.7% year-on-year (YoY) in the second quarter, the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) is expected to raise its official growth forecast to between 4% and 5%, up from its current range of 2% to 4%. Yet the resilience of the Little Red Dot’s economy has not dispelled anxiety among young workers.

Such concerns are not unfounded, as Singapore’s retrenchment list for 2026 continues to lengthen, with Shopee and TikTok among the latest additions. Workers have become even more concerned after the recent GovTech layoffs, which saw 93 employees lose their jobs, as even traditionally secure “iron rice bowl” roles no longer mean “automatic job security”, according to netizens on r/singaporejobs.

Those fears are compounded by Singapore’s position as the Southeast Asian country with the highest share of workers in AI-exposed occupations.

Concerns among workers, however, extend beyond AI and job cuts.

Earlier in May, a recruiter caused quite a stir online after saying firms were turning to foreign workers from Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines because local workers were “not as hungry”.

One commenter on r/singapore, however, argued that reports of Singaporeans taking on second jobs to make ends meet suggest otherwise.

“It’s not even multiple fractional jobs, but one full-time plus a gig. Not sure why this makes me feel a bit sad, how to find any downtime to rest. These youths are definitely not ‘not hungry’,” the commenter wrote. /TISG

Read also: ‘We are bleeding jobs in many sectors’: Singaporeans share worries of businesses pulling out of SG